Parental Nightmare
by LifeIsTooQuick
Summary: Roger goes back to his hometown to visit his dying grandmother, bringing Mimi and Nathan with him. There, he and Mimi both have to deal with the childhoods they've tried to escape and the people they left behind. PostRent Roger/Mimi
1. Phone Call

_I'm so sorry for the delay, but you would not believe how much it sucked writing this and it's so unbelievably short, so I have hardly anything to show for my hard work. :p I had finals this week and just as I was finishing typing this my power went out for three days. I just got it back and had to re-type everything out. :( But, I finished it in the end. :p_

_Just so everybody knows, in case you hadn't read my one-shot, I have a new poll up. It deals with another story I'll be writing, so even if you don't review I would really like it if you guys would please vote in it. I'll leave it open for another week and then I'll start writing. :)_

_I'm so sorry I forgot to put this in the first time. Thank you to Steoh, again, for beta-reading for me. :)_

_And, thank you to my friend Kim and my chatzy buddies for helping me with the name thing. (Mostly Kim, for the Pacey stuff. :p)_

_Disclaimer: I own a Rent dvd and a Rent soundtrack. But not Rent itself... damn..._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"How about James if it's a boy?" Roger suggested. Mimi glanced up at him from her position on the floor, trying to wrestle Nathan into a t-shirt.

"James? Seriously? Do you know how many Jameses there are out there?"

"It was just a suggestion. What about Adam?"

"Adam's worse than James. Do you want our child to have the same name as five other kids in his class?"

Roger sighed and absent-mindedly stared across the room at Nathan, who had removed his blocks from their spot in the corner and had begun to build a tower. He and Mimi were discussing possible names for their child. They had been going on like this for about half an hour now and so far couldn't find a single name they could agree on.

"Then what would you like, Mimi?" Roger asked. Every time he suggested a name Mimi thought it was too common or had a bad definition or she knew someone like that once and he or she was a real jerk.

"Something different and uncommon. Like Milo or Pacey."

"Milo?" Roger laughed. Her suggestions were more ridiculous than his.

"Yeah. You know, like Milo and Otis."

"Okay… And where the hell did you get Pacey?"

"Dawson's Creek." Mimi said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. Roger stared at her, still not understanding who the hell she was talking about. ''He's the one with the normal sized forehead who is so charming, he got a woman 15 years older than him and...ok maybe not Pacey.''

Roger smiled mischievously, ''Well if my son could do that...''

"Ok, moving on. What if it's a girl?"

"I don't know… Amanda?"

"Amanda?" Mimi stared at Roger in disbelief. "Do you know how many bitches there are in the world named Amanda?"

"Ok, Miss Shoot-Down-Everything-I-Suggest. What do you want?"  
"How about Ariel?" Roger snickered.

"Ariel? Like the Little Mermaid? Now we've moved on to Disney princesses? What's next Cinderella? Pocahontas?" Mimi whacked him on the arm.

"No. And Pocahontas was not a princess. That's a common misconception. And if we were to name our daughter after a Disney Princess it would have to be Belle." **(A/N: Actually, most of the Disney Princesses aren't actual princesses… It bothers me…)**

"Why?"

"Because Belle was easily the best Disney princess ever." **(A/N: Fck yeah! :p)**

"Obviously," he muttered under his breath. Mimi shot him a look and then continued.

"She wasn't a complete wimp like all the others. She was smart and she read a lot and she could take care of herself for the most part. She didn't solely rely on her prince to save her."

Roger laughed. "Ok, I can see that… Maybe Belle."

"See? Not all my name suggestions suck." Mimi said, sliding into Roger's lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, I guess…" He leaned in and kissed her. Just then the phone rang and Mimi jerked back a bit.

"We should probably get that…" She made a move to go for the phone, but Roger just pulled her closer to himself.

"Ignore it."

"Why?"

"It's probably just my parents again."

"Again? When have they called before?" Mimi could hardly remember Roger's parents ever calling normally, let alone recently.

"They've called everyday for the past four days. It's getting on my nerves. Pretty soon they're going to realize that I'm avoiding them."

Mimi laughed just as the machine went off. _SPEEEEAAAAAAAAK. _Roger glanced over at it, prepared for his mother's scolding voice on how they needed a proper outgoing message on the machine. He was surprised, however, to hear a different voice. The voice of a teenage girl.

"Roger… I know you're there… pick up… Rooooogeeeer, pick up the phone…Ok, fine. I see how it is. You don't want to talk to your sister. Whatever. Well, when you get this message, you should call me back, because I really have to talk to you, ok? Bye." There was a click and then silence. For a moment, Roger was too shocked to move.

"Roger… Was that really your sister?" Mimi asked. She had never met Rebecca, though Roger had told her many stories about her.

"Yeah…" Roger was still in shock. Rebecca had called. _Rebecca_ had called. She never called. They wrote to each other often, but she had never actually called. If she had, then one of their parents would've been able to listen in on the conversation and find out what each of them was up to, since there were things they would discuss only with each other. Neither of them liked their parents very much and kept them in the dark about as much as possible. So why was she calling? "I'd better call her back. It must be important if she's calling me."

Roger picked up the phone and dialed the one number he swore he would never dial again, since it would mean very likely having to speak with one of his parents.

"Hello." Yes! Rebecca picked up. For a moment, though, Roger couldn't say anything. He hadn't seen Rebecca in nearly two years and the sound fo her voice was odd. She was 16 now and her voice wasn't as childish as it was before.

"Hey, Becca. It's me, Roger."

"Finally. Geez, Mom and Dad have been calling all week! Why the hell didn't you answer the phone?"

"Ok, go back and say that first part again."

"Mom and Dad have been calling all week… Oh… Gotchya." They both started laughing.

"So, why have they been calling?"

Becca's voice immediately became sober.

"Nana's in the hospital." Roger didn't like the sound of that. Nana was their grandmother on their father's side. Roger and Rebecca both adored her, she was an amazing grandmother. Not stuffy and stuck-up like their mom's side of the family and not strict and hard like their father was. Roger, honestly, couldn't see the relation and wondered how someone so amazing could have spawned someone so horrible. Other than Rebecca, she was the only person Roger felt he could related to in his immediate family and being in the hospital didn't seem like a good sign. Despite this, however, he immediately lapsed into Re-assuring Brother Mode.

"Nana's been in the hospital before. I'm sure she'll be fine…"

"No, Roger. It's worse this time. Much worse. The doctors don't think she's going to make it out this time."

"Oh…" Roger was silent for a long time. "What's that got to do with me, though? Why have Mom and Dad been calling?"

"It was actually on Nana's request. She wants to see you one more time before she dies. Mom and Dad said you can stay here." Roger was quiet again.

"Uh… Becca, I don't think I can do that… I mean, I've got Mimi and Nathan and work…"

"Fuck work. And you can bring Mimi and Nathan with you." Now she sounded eager. "I can finally meet my nephew and sister-in-law! This is going to be awesome!"

"Don't say 'fuck', and Mimi and I aren't married yet, so…"

"So, what? Come on, Roger, please! It's not just that. I haven't' seen you in two years! I miss you! Marie does too."

"I'll talk it over with Mimi."

"Ok, great. See you!"

"Bye." He hung up the phone and put his head in his hands. What was he going to do? He felt a hand rub along his shoulder and looked up to see Mimi sitting on the edge of the couch.

"So, what's going on?"

"Nana's in the hospital. She wants to see me before she dies. My parents want me to go over there and stay there a bit."

"At their house?"

"Yeah."

"Ooh."

"You and Nathan could come, too."

"I would love to meet your grandma. And I'm dying to meet Rebecca, she sounds like so much fun!"

"She really wants to meet you, too."

"So, let's go. It'll only be for a little while, right? Not like, a month or anything."

"Are you sure?" Roger was really apprehensive about his parents meeting Mimi. He knew they wouldn't approve and was worried about what they might say to and about her.

"Yeah. It'll be fine, Roger. Let's go."

"Ok. If you're sure."  
But Roger had a feeling that this was not going to be a fun experience.

* * *

_I know! Totally short! But, there was nothing more to put. The next might be unbelievably long, unless i find an appropriate spot to split it. _


	2. Meet the Parents

_Sorry for the long wait to update. I had a little trouble with this chapter. I wasn't sure where to stop, I got grounded, and I went to Cedar Point. And then, on top of all of this, I cast most of my OC's (The one's with main roles, anyway.) and I was looking over my main character castings for this story (Sine there are quite a few.) and I realized that all the imdb pictures that I had for all my OC's (I have them saved in a separate file.) were all messed up, so I had to go back and re-do almost every single one. And that took forever, I couldn't find the pictures I originally anted for some of them, so I had to re-cast some. _

_Thanx to Steph, again._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"Mimi, you're biting your nails raw. If you don't stop you'll probably start bleeding."

Mimi removed her hand from her mouth and began fidgeting. Roger gave her an odd look. She had seemed apprehensive the whole trip over. Roger couldn't figure why. She had seemed eager enough and excited for the trip. (Although why was beyond him, Roger knew that his parents would hate Mimi and was dreading the departure.) Then, all of a sudden, she had gotten worried and tense. During the whole hour-long drive Mimi just stared out the window, chewing her nails.

Finally the taxi pulled up in front of a two-story house. It was one of the larger in the neighborhood and, while it wasn't a mansion, was still well-kept and nice-looking enough to show the wealth of its occupants. Roger suppressed a grimace as he got out of the taxi, then turned around to unbuckle Nathan from the car seat they had borrowed from Emil and Jacquelyn. Mimi tentatively got out of the car and walked to the trunk to get their suitcases.

"I got it, Mimi," Roger said, walking over to her. Mimi stifled the exasperated sigh she could feel coming. She had no idea how she was going to make it through the next four months of her pregnancy if this was how Roger was going to react every time she tried to do a little physical activity. She compromised with him by picking Nathan up and carrying him to the door behind Roger.

Roger shot Mimi a look and she smiled back impishly before he rang the doorbell. There was silence for a few seconds before the loud banging noises of someone running down the stairs and shouts of "I got it! I got it!" The door was practically ripped off its hinges as a teenage girl threw it opened. She screamed before launching herself at Roger, knocking him back a few feet.

"Oh my God! Finally! I've been waiting for you guys all friggin' day! How long did it take you to pack?!"

"It's nice to see you too, Becca," Roger choked out. Rebecca took a step back and looked him over.

"You grew your hair out… Awesome, it looks _so_ much better now. Mom's gonna throw a fit, though." She laughed at that and Roger gave her slight smile.

"And look at you. You're all grown up now. You weren't supposed to do that. Now boys will think you're attractive and start trying to ask you out." Rebecca stuck her tongue out at him.

"And what makes you think I don't already have a boyfriend?" she asked, crossing her arms and taking on a stance Mimi recognized as one that Roger often took when arguing, although Rebecca's had more attitude.

"You had better not."

"Why not?"

"Because then I would have to kick his ass."

Rebecca rolled her eyes at him. Then she seemed to notice his fellow traveling companions and let out a shriek again.

"Is this Mimi and Nathan?" she asked Roger excitedly.  
"Uh… No. these are just two hitchhikers I picked up on my way over here. You don't think Mom and Dad will mind if they stay with me, do you?"

Rebecca punched Roger lightly on the arm before walking over to Nathan.

"He is so cute. He looks just like you, Roger." Nathan just stared at Rebecca with his thumb in his mouth. At her approach he shifted over to stand behind Roger and latched his free hand onto Roger's pant leg.

"Nathan, this is you Aunt Rebecca," Roger said soothingly, so Nathan would know that there was nothing scary in this situation.

"It's nice to meet you," Nathan said quietly before sticking his thumb back in his mouth.

"Awww, Roger, he has that thumb-sucking habit just like you did."

"I did not have a thumb sucking habit."

"Did too."

"How would you know? You weren't alive yet."

"Marie told me."

"Oh, so you and Marie talk about me?"

"Of course, what else is there to do?"

Mimi began laughing at the non-stop banter between the two siblings, it was adorable. She had never seen two siblings act so right as siblings before. The closest she had seen would've been Jodie and Tricia, but they were both girls, so it wasn't really the same. When it came to brother-sister relationships, Mimi just had her early childhood years and almost a decade of mistreatment from her step-brother.

Mimi's laugh seemed to snap the two out of their bickering and brought Rebecca's full attention, for the first time, to Mimi.

"So, you're Mimi?" Mimi nodded and held her hand out.

"It's nice to meet you," she said. Rebecca stared at her like she was crazy before launching herself at Mimi and throwing her arms around. Mimi staggered back and threw a shocked look at Roger. He laughed as Rebecca pulled back and gasped out "It's nice to meet you too." between her own peals of laughter.

"I can't believe you just tried to shake hands with my sister," Roger said, "She hates that."

"It's way too formal," Rebecca explained, "It reminds me of all those stupid dinners we have to go to for Dad's work and stuff." She shuddered. "So, want me to show you to your rooms?"

"You've changed my room?" Roger asked doubtingly.

"No. But I needed someway to segue the conversation towards going into the house." She bent over, picked Nathan up and walked into the house. Roger and Mimi followed, Mimi trying to stifle her laugh. Roger's sister was _exactly_ how he had described her, and then some. Very energetic and eccentric and, although there hadn't been much evidence to it yet, Mimi could tell that she was very free-spirited.

"Marie, Roger's here!" she called to the back of the house before turning off the hallway and into a large, spacious room filled with couches and lounge chairs and coffee tables. She set Nathan down on a couch and then sat next to him.

"Becca, why did you carry my son here? Mimi or I could've gotten him."  
No, you couldn't have, because you have luggage. And I needed some incentive for you to follow me, Roger, I know you wouldn't willingly walk back into this house." Roger had to hand it to her, she was right there. "Plus, he's just so darn _cute_! Just looking at him makes me want to pick up!"

"Can you tell she's never been around small children before?" Roger asked Mimi and she laughed. The two walked over to the other sofa and sat down, Mimi curling up so she was leaning against Roger with his arm wrapped around her.

"So not true. Danny's younger sisters are two years old and I was around them a lot," Rebecca shot back indignantly.

"How are things with him, anyway?" Roger asked, "You guys still best friends? I'm surprised he's not over here right now ." Roger turned to Mimi to explain, "Danny's the boy who lives down the street. He and Becca have been best friends since the dawn of time, the two were always inseparable growing up. Drove Mom and Dad nuts."

"'The boy who lived down the street.'" Rebecca corrected him.

"What?"

"He moved last year."

"He did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did. I mentioned it in one of my letters last year, you probably didn't notice it because you were too busy hating life." She said it jokingly, but Mimi sensed a serious undertone to it.

"I'm sorry, Becca, that sucks. I always hoped you two might get married someday, he was the only guy around here I could stand," Roger teased her, trying to re-lighten the mood. Rebecca gave him an attitudal look.

"Who said I might not still marry him?" she asked challengingly.

Roger gaped at her for a moment while Rebecca looked at him in smug defiance and Mimi tried very hard not laugh.

"Wait… What does _that_ mean?" Roger finally blurted out.

"If you had paid attention during my letters, you would know."

"You _never_ said _anything_ about you two dating! Why didn't you tell me you two were dating?"

"I did so! I know I did. In one letter I mentioned that we went mini-golfing and those old people glared at us the whole time! Another time I said that I had stayed up on the phone talking with him until 4:00 am and Mom got all pissed off and grounded me from the phone, but I knew it was just an excuse for her to get me away from him for some period of time!"

"Nowhere in any of those letters are the words 'I' 'am' 'dating' and 'Danny' ever used."

"Well, what about my most recent letter when I mentioned how we had gone to see Titanic and that lady that sat behind us yelled at us the whole time because she claimed we were 'blocking her view'."

"No dating mentioned there, either."

"Oh, please, Roger. I told you we went, alone, to see Titanic and were blocking some lady's view, what the hell did you think was going on?"

"You know, she's got a point," Mimi interjected, trying, once again, to not laugh.

"Oh, don't you start, now, too. That was really dirty, Becca. Hiding the fact that you were dating through subterfuge."

"It's not my fault your unobservant in reading my letters."

"Hello, Roger, I thought I heard you and your sister screaming at each other," a female voice spoke from the side of the room.

Everybody in the room turned to see an older couple standing in the doorway. They were both dressed exceptionally well, like they were about to go out to a business dinner or meet the mayor. They also both had a stern look about themselves and were wearing identical looks of disapproval.

"I see that you let your hair grow out. Honestly, Roger, are you still trying to be a rock star?" she went on, glancing at Roger's hair in disgust.

"I like it," Rebecca chimed from her spot on the couch, where her parents had practically turned their backs to and ignored since they walked in the room.

"Well, Rebecca, that is why you are the child and I am the parent," her mother responded. For the first time sine she got here Mimi saw a look of actual sadness cross Rebecca's face for a split second, before she composed herself to just look emotionless. Mimi had seen Roger do the exact same thing countless times.

"Hello, mother," Roger spoke, seeming to try and deflect the negative attention off of Rebecca and back to himself, "So, how have you two been since I last visited?"

"Fairly well." She looked over to the couch where Rebecca was sitting and moved her eyes farther down to where Nathan was sitting, his thumb still in his mouth. "Is this the child?" She asked condescendingly, saying "the child" as if it meant an other-worldly being.

"Yes, Mother, this is my son, Nathan. Nathan, this is your grandmother."

"But, Daddy, Gwandma's in jail," Nathan corrected him. Roger saw a curious look flash in Rebecca's eyes and knew he was going to have to explain that one to her later or never hear the end of her pestering. He also saw the look of contempt on his father's face deepen. He inwardly cursed Nathan's knack for correcting everything said if it wasn't to his liking.

"I know that, Nathan," Roger went on, "This is your other grandmother. This is my mom."

"Oh." Nathan took his thumb out of his mouth and held is hand out to Roger's mother, "It's a pweasuwe meeting you."

She just stared at his hand like it held vile diseases.

"It's nice to meet you, also," she said quickly, without taking his hand.

"You'we 'upposed to shake my hand. Dontchya know youw mannews?" Nathan asked, appalled.

Roger, Mimi, and Rebecca all had to work very hard to keep straight faces.

"You know what? Why don't I take Nathan upstairs to his room and help get him settled?" Rebecca asked, jumping up quickly to the small child's rescue, "How about it Nathan? Want to go upstairs?"

"Upstaiws?" he asked, looking fearful.

"Nathan's afraid of heights," Roger explained.

"Oh, that's just like you. I knew I never had to worry about you climbing out of your crib, because whenever you stood up you were terrified you would fall out," another voice spoke, entering the room. Mimi stifled another laugh. She was liking this, she had learned more about Roger's childhood in ten minutes at his house than she had in 18 months of knowing him.

"Hey, Marie," Roger greeted the new-comer. Marie stopped in the middle of the room and gave Roger a look.  
"'Hey, Marie'? I raise you from birth, you leave, and finally come back for a visit after two years and all I get is 'Hey, Marie'? Boy, get your ass over here."

"I'm sorry," Roger laughed, standing up to give her a hug.

"I missed you."  
"I missed you, too. Nobody can cook like you can. And when I live on my own I have to pick up my own messes, it sucks." Marie swatted his arm.  
"Now, I _know_ I raised you better than _that_."

"I'm just kidding," he laughed, going to sit back down next to Mimi. It was then that he remembered her presence and was about to introduce the two, but his mother intervened.

"Marie, why don't you go with Rebecca to show Nathan his room and get him settled and everything? And then, could you please bring us some tea? Kenneth and I would like to have a nice talk with our son and his" -she shot a look at Mimi- "girlfriend."

Roger already hated being back home.

"Will do, Ma'am," Marie responded. She then turned to the younger two and lead them out of the room. Rebecca turned around and mouthed "Good luck." at Roger before leaving the room.

Roger's parents seated themselves on the now vacant couch and turned to look at Roger and Mimi. Roger subconsciously reached over and intertwined his fingers with Mimi's.

"So, this is Mimi," Roger's mother began, "Well, we've heard a lot about you. I'm Julia, Roger's mother, and this is my husband, Kenneth."

"It's nice to meet you," Mimi answered shyly. She had no idea what she was supposed to respond with. She had not heard a lot about Julia, and the little she had heard was negative, so she wasn't sure what her response should be.

"So, how long have you two known each other?" Julia continued briskly, as if she hadn't heard Mimi speak.

"About a year and a half," Roger answered, saving Mimi from stammering something out. The apathy she felt coming off of Roger's parents, particularly his mother, had left her slightly flustered. Which was confusing and different, as Mimi hardly ever got flustered or nervous.

"And you think that this is an appropriate period of time for the two of you to get engaged?"

"Mom!" Roger snapped.

"Roger," Kenneth spoke for the first time, his voice was as stiff and cold as Mimi imagined it would be, "Your mother is merely pointing out the irresponsibility of marrying someone after only knowing the other person for such a short period of time."

"It doesn't matter, Dad, we love each other. That's all that matters when you get married." _Not that you would know,_ he secretly added in his head. To this day, Roger was certain the only reason his parents married each other was for the convenience of it. They were both wealthy people who had the same values on life. It seemed like a perfect match to get married and raise a family just like them, to spread their single-mindedness to the world. Shame they had Roger and Rebecca for kids.

Julia made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. Roger was saved the yelling and shouting that would be sure to follow his responsive comment when Marie came in the room, carrying a tray with tea on it.

"Here you go, Ma'am," she said politely, setting the tray down on the small table between the two couches, "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, thank you, Marie. You may finish making dinner," Julia responded, emotionless as always. She then reached forward, picked up a cup, and took a small sip of tea. Kenneth did the same and Mimi began to panic slightly. Never, in her life, had she ever had tea. But Roger didn't take any, so she assumed it would be all right if she didn't have any either.

"Mimi, aren't you going to have any tea?" Julia shot at her, with all the contempt of a hostess calling someone out on behaving extremely rude at their dinner party.

"Um… I've never really had tea before, so…" Mimi trailed off at the cold look Julia continued to give her. Could the woman do anything other than glare at her?

"It's ok, Mimi, you don't have to drink anything if you don't want to," Roger re-assured her.

"Now, Roger, don't you think that's a little rude?" Kenneth retorted, "Marie worked hard making this tea and it's bad enough that you refuse to drink it. You shouldn't encourage others to be as rude."

Roger opened his mouth to argue more, but Mimi, sensing danger interrupted him.  
"You know what? I think I'll just try it, anyway, Roger." She reached forward and picked the teacup up, feeling like a little six-year-old. Mimi had never had little fake tea parties as a child, so it felt really awkward to do so. She quickly took a small sip and immediately gagged on it. It was very bitter and warm. Mimi didn't particularly like warm drinks. As she attempted to quiet her coughing and regain a dignified posture, Roger burst out laughing.

"It's horrible, isn't it? Becca and I used to hide our tea in whatever garden plant was closest, before Marie caught on and excused us from drinking it."

"No... It's fine… It just…" Mimi struggled for words to politely say she disliked the tea. Finally, she just gave up and decided on the truth, "it's really horrible, yeah." They both began laughing after that. It wasn't until Roger's mother cleared her throat indiscreetly to catch their attention that they sobered up.

"I'm sorry," Mimi said in little more than a whisper, flustered, once again, by the looks Roger's parents were giving her. Roger rolled his eyes.

"Mimi, you don't have to apologize for laughing." Mimi gave him a grateful smile and they all fell into a silence for a while, that quickly grew awkward.

"So, Mimi, what do you do for a living?" Kenneth asked unexpectedly. Mimi thanked every God she had ever heard of that she had quit her old job at the Cat Scratch Club. Not the best job to tell your fiancé's parents about.

"I work as a waitress at this café near our apartment," Mimi explained.

"So, between the two of you, you work as a bar tender and a waitress," Julia stated, as if trying to get facts down, but with an undertone of disapproval, "It's a wonder you can afford any apartment at all. And you take care of a child on that, as well?"

"Mom, we're not the only ones who live in the apartment. Mark and Collins live there, too." Mimi could tell that Roger was getting fed-up with his parents and was ready to leave the room. She wondered how long it would take before World War III erupted.

"Collins? You still live with him? I thought he left." Kenneth seemed to attempt to pass the comment off as being one of unimportance, but it was obvious he did not seem very pleased about it.

"No, Dad. He moved back a couple months ago. Why? Is that a problem for you?" Roger stated it as if he didn't give a rat's ass what his parents thought was a problem.

"Are you sure you want that kind of person in your home now? I mean, I could understand when you were younger and it was just you and your friends,"  
"So what, Dad?" Roger had abandoned the pretense of being civil now and had just skipped straight over to hostile anger. "What's so different now?"  
"Roger, come down," Julia intervened, "Your father is only wondering if you would want that kind of a person in your home around your child. He's not the best role model."

"Gee, why is that, Mom? Because he's black or because he's gay? Because, I've got to tell you, he makes a hell of a better role model than either of you."

"Don't take that tone with your mother!" Kenneth warned. Mimi just sat there helplessly, trying to figure some way to dispel the anger in the room before punches were thrown.

"I'll take any kind of tone I want with anyone who bad-mouths my friends!"

"Well, if you feel that way, then…"

"Dinner is ready!" Marie called from out of the room. Mimi had a feeling Marie had been listening in and had called dinner to avoid any violence from erupting. Thank God.

Roger took a deep breath and then took Mimi's hand and stood up to lead her to the dining room. Although disaster had been averted from their first arrival, Mimi was now left to worry about what would happen at dinner.

* * *

_I know the ending's a little abrupt, but, like I said, I wasn't sure where to end this at. This and the dinner were originally going to be one chapter, but it got kind of long and I hadn't updated in two weeks, so I stopped here. I'll get the pictures up of Roger's family by MK\onday. I'm going camping this weekend, so I can't do that until maybe Sunday, at the earliest.  
_


	3. Care Bears

_Happy Fourth of July! For 29 more minutes... :p I called this chapter "Care Bears" because there's a long Care Bears discussion at the beginning and I couldn't think of anything else. :p Thanx to datagirl3 for giving me the idea for that after asking me why Roger had a problem with Care Bears in my last story- this is why. :p  
_

_I was concerned with getting this up today, since I'll be busy the rest of the weekend and my beta-reader hadn't sent it back to me yet, so I had my friend Kim beta it for me. Then, as she was sending her betaed version to me, Steph sent me hers. (I mean, literaally, at the exact same time, Kim's was sent just one minute after Steph's. :p) So, hopefully, this will be extra-good on theh grammar, since two people betaed it. :p_

_Thanx to Steph and Kim for betaing. :)_

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Roger lead Mimi out of the living room, his parents remained in the room and he tried to ignore their whispered conversation that was coated in disapproval. They entered the dining room to find Rebecca and Nathan already seated, Nathan sitting on an old Care Bears booster seat of Rebecca's placed on the dining room chair.

"Oh, God," Roger said, sitting down in the chair next to Nathan, Mimi sitting on his other side, "You did _not _just make my son sit on a _Care Bears _booster seat…"

"Why, Roger, whatever is wrong with Care Bears?" Rebecca asked in a too-innocent tone.

"You know very well what is wrong with Care Bears…" he responded, narrowing his eyes at Rebecca across the table.

"What's wrong with Care Bears?" Mimi asked, glad the tense atmosphere that had formed with his parents had dissipated to a more playful tense with Rebecca.

"That girl," Roger said venomously, pointing at Rebecca, "Was obsessed with Care Bears. _Obsessed._ She had Care Bear everything. Care Bear toys, Care Bear bedding, Care Bear clothes, Care Bear posters on her wall, every Care Bear stuffed animal and every Care Bear video. If it had to do with Care Bears, she owned it. And she made me watch those video tapes over and over every day. And play her Care Bear board games and play the video game and just play with the stuffed animals. Rebecca never liked Barbie Dolls, but she sure made up for that with her Care Bear obsession!"

A small laugh escaped Mimi and she suddenly had new suspicions of what happened to Nathan's old Care Bear pajamas. Rebecca stared defiantly at Roger, with a slightly smug look on her face, waiting for him to finish his rant before retaliating.

"Well, then I'm going to guess you won't be putting Nathan to bed, since his entire bedding is Care Bears." She gave him a cocky little smile, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"That is so a lie!" Roger accused.

"Is not!"  
"Is too!"  
"How so?"

"I burned all your Care Bear bedding years ago." Roger seemed to realize just what he had said the second after he said it, and smacked himself in the forehead.

"I knew it!" Rebecca proclaimed, outraged. "I knew you had something to do with it! You told me that maybe Marie had messed up the laundry or it got lost somewhere in the basement or that the Borrowers took it, needing to use it to create furniture covers for their home!"

"You know," Roger laughed, "In all honesty, I couldn't believe you had actually considered the Borrowers theory. I mean, I know you were young and everything, but…"

"What about my Care Bears cassette tape? Huh? The one you 'accidentally' stepped on. What happened there?"

There was a moment of silence as Roger looked back and forth between the bewildered, slightly amused stare of Mimi and Rebecca's penetrating glare.

"All right! I did it! I smashed the damn cassette tape!"

"Roger!" Mimi exclaimed in mock outrage, "How could you?"

"She played it non-stop! In the car when we were driving places, in the kitchen when we would help Marie, in her bedroom, when we played games, when we went for walks. She had one of those little portable cassette player things that had the microphone on the side and she would carry it around the house, playing that damn cassette tape! So, finally, I snapped! And I smashed it! And you know what? I would do it again, too!"

There was a short moment where Roger and Rebecca glared at each other across the table before a slightly smug look crossed Rebecca's face.

"Well, remember your old stuffed penguin that you kept hidden under your pillow? Marie didn't really throw it out, thinking you were too old for it. Danny and I strapped it to a toy rocket to see if we could make him the first penguin in outer space."

Mimi covered her face with her hand, to keep either of the two from seeing her hysterical laughter. Roger opened his mouth angrily to respond, but was cut off by the entrance of his parents.

"Honestly, children," Julia remarked disapprovingly, "Can't you spend five minutes in a room together without screaming at each other. It's not very becoming. Save the arguing for when you're off by yourselves."  
Roger rolled his eyes. It wasn't as if he and Rebecca meant anything by their arguments. They rarely ever lead to anything painful; it was just sibling bantering, very normal. In fact, Roger felt it made them closer, as it gave them interaction with each other and often lead to them doing little things to make it up to each other when they went too far. Like the time Rebecca bought Roger a Guns and Roses poster to make up for smashing his cassette tape in revenge for him eating the last cookie; or the many times Roger would take her for a drive out for ice cream or to the zoo or wherever else she felt like going to make up for yelling at her too often. Fighting was just a part of their relationship, a part that the two of them actually enjoyed, trying to one-up each other at each argument. Their parents would never understand these things, because they never understood their children.

"Dinner is served," Marie announced, carrying in a covered plate. She set it down in the center of the table and then left the room to get the rest. "And I'm almost done making dessert."

"And what are we having tonight, Marie?" Kenneth inquired in a professional manner, as if checking if a project would be finished by its deadline.

"In honor of Roger's home visit, I made his favorite, broasted chicken, with corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, noodles, and crescent rolls.

"Marie, you didn't have to do that for me. I'm fine with anything you make." Roger knew how much trouble making all of that, especially the broasted chicken, was. He suspected Marie must've spent most of the day on it, and Rebecca probably spent just as much time helping her prepare everything.

"Nonsense, it's my job. Besides, it's not everyday you visit home and I want you to be happy while you're here. And it all starts with a good meal." She flashed one of her good-natured smiles at him and he instinctively smiled back. Marie's smiles were very contagious.

"Well, I hope this one isn't vegetarian like the last one," Julia stated as if making a joke, but with insulting undertones. Roger was instantly annoyed. He didn't like the way Julia said "this one", like Mimi was some new toy Roger had gotten and would quickly grow bored of.

"No, I like meat," Mimi responded politely. Roger was impressed with how well she could keep a straight face, despite also noticing the implication of Julia's statement, "My Mami used to make the most amazing chicken quesadillas when I was younger. She could definitely give Taco Bell a run for their money." Roger and Rebecca laughed and their parents just gave slight little smiles that seemed ruder than not reacting at all.

"Well? Dig in!" Marie commanded as she set the last dish on the table, "I didn't slave all day in the kitchen for nothing, you know."

They all began to fill their plates up with food and Roger filled up an extra plate for Nathan. He shot a look at Rebecca when he saw that she had given him her old Care Bear decorated plate to use. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, Rebecca," Julia began after a few moments of silent eating, "I haven't had much time to talk to you lately. How has your Summer been? I remember you used to be out of the house almost everyday, but lately you just hang around the house. You don't have any friends you want to hang out with?"  
Mimi saw Rebecca grimace into her food, even if Julia seemed to miss it.

"Well, Mom, I used to always be out of the house because I used to be out doing things with Danny. But he moved. The rest of the kids around here are stuck-up little pricks whom I wouldn't waste a second of intelligible conversation on, let alone an entire afternoon that could be spent reading or listening to music or gauging my eyes out with razor blades."

"Rebecca, you are so dramatic," Kenneth shot at her, "Why can't we ever have a conversation with you without it turning into some huge dramatic production?"  
"Because you guys always ask ridiculously stupid questions. The answers to which you would know if you actually bothered to have a real conversation with me, as opposed to the condescending ones you always tend to start."

"So, Mom, Dad, how have things been for you?" Roger suddenly butt in. This was routine, a normal thing. Roger's parents loved to pick at their children and as soon as the other sensed danger they would jump in and change the subject to avoid further damage and a possible grounding or worse. Rebecca shot Roger a grateful, relieved look and he gave her a short nod in response.

The conversation became more civilized after that, with more of a scripted, formal feel. But it passed without incident and no more arguments erupted.

Mimi sat on the edge of Roger's bed and stared out the window without really seeing it. Roger was currently reading Nathan a bed-time story. He had managed to convince Nathan to deviate once in a while from the usually _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie_. Tonight he was reading _The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings_, an old bedtime favorite of Rebecca's that she still kept on her bookshelf.

This left Mimi alone in Roger's bedroom to think. Now that she had passed the "meeting Roger's family" stage she didn't have much to occupy her mind and distract her thoughts, leading her back to her previous worries.

She was in Scarsdale. Right now. The thought almost made her sick. She swore she would never come back here, ever. No matter what the reason, she would always find someway to avoid it. But she had already spent enough effort and enthusiasm on convincing Roger to go to suddenly just back-out. And Roger was sure to question her motives for backing out if she did it so suddenly. Still…

She hadn't known that this was where Roger had grown up. What were the odds? Of all the cities in the America, even all the cities near New York City, why did Roger have to grow up here? In this city, just blocks away from where Mimi herself had grown up. Her side of town was different. Way different. The houses were smaller, the cars weren't all shiny new models, and the lawns weren't all kept in perfect condition. But she had still grown up in this very city. Spent ten years here, until she decided enough was enough and ran. She wondered vaguely if Roger had gone to Scarsdale High. The two might have been almost classmates for a year and not even known it.

Then Mimi's thoughts changed to her mother. Was she still here? Mimi suddenly felt a strong wave of homesickness. Not actual homesickness. She never called that place a home and never would, nor would she ever feel the urge to go back. But she really missed her mother. Roger had said they would stay here for a week… Would they have time to go visit her? Mimi wondered if she had the courage to do that. To go across town to her old house and find out if her mother still lived there. And if she did… Would she have the guts to ring the doorbell? To talk to her. What would she say? What must her mother think of her?

And then there was the biggest problem of all. Jose. Was he still there? If he was it wasn't likely he would let Mimi get anywhere near her mother. And Mimi sure as hell didn't want to try. She didn't want to go near him or see him ever again. Just the thought made her sick to her stomach and break out in a cold sweat.

Mimi jumped as she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind.

"What are you thinking about so intently?" Roger asked her jokingly, pulling her closer. Mimi gave a silent sigh of relief and relaxed immediately.

"Nothing… Just old memories and stuff." She leaned her head back against Roger's shoulder and allowed herself to relax completely as Roger ran his hand up and down her arm softly. As was becoming habit, his hand move lower to rest on her growing belly. Mimi had freaked out a little while ago when she awoke and, while putting a new shirt on, discovered that she had developed a slight bump, the first outwardly physical sign that she was pregnant. It wasn't large enough that you could tell when she wore the right clothes, but it was still there and she and Roger spent many hours just resting their hands there.

"You know, I can't imagine how much you're going to freak when the baby actually starts to kick and stuff," Roger joked. Mimi smiled.

"I can't wait." They sat there in silence for a while before she spoke again. "When are we going to tell them? About the baby."

Roger thought about that for a bit.

"I, honestly, don't know. I mean, I know Rebecca and Marie will be thrilled, but… I'm worried about how my parents will take it. They hate my relationship with you enough as it is, I would hate to see how they would react to us having a baby. Better let them get used to the idea of us getting married first." Mimi had a feeling there was more to it that Roger just wasn't telling her, but she didn't press it. She wasn't even sure she wanted to know.

The two laid down and settled in bed, Roger draping his arm around Mimi. As she tried to get to sleep, Mimi's thoughts returned to their earlier subject. She really did want to see her mother. And maybe if Roger went with her, things wouldn't be so bad…

"What's bothering you now?" Roger suddenly asked, making her jump.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"It's just… I was thinking about my mom."

That surprised him.

"Your mom? Why were you thinking about her?"

"I haven't seen her in a while and… I miss her… Really badly… She is the only part of my childhood that I can look back on and manage to smile for…"

"I'm sorry. I wish I could take you to see her."  
Mimi knew it was slightly deceiving, as Roger had no idea how close Mimi's mother was and, so, never knew his promise was possible, but she had kind of been hoping she would lead him in that direction.

"She lives on the other side of town," Mimi spoke up quickly, before her courage could desert her. Roger was silent for a long moment.

"What? What are you talking about? How do you know that?"  
"She lives over on the other side of town. I grew up here."

"I didn't know that… Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because I never knew where you had grown up… Well, until today, obviously."

Roger was quiet for another long moment.

"Do you really want to go see her?"

"Yeah… Well, if she's still there… I don't even really know if she still lives there…"

"Then, we'll go. I'll take you there."

"Really? Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yeah. I would love to meet your mom. We can go the day after tomorrow. We already promised Nana we'd visit her tomorrow and you would be surprised by how talkative that woman can get."

Mimi laughed. She couldn't express to Roger how happy he had just made her. She was suddenly very excited and eager… and scared… terrified, really. She didn't know how her mom would react to seeing her after all these years. And she really didn't like the prospect of running into Jose. The thought made her feel ill again.

"What's wrong now?" Roger asked, looking suddenly worried, "I said we would go."  
"I know… It's just… It's nothing, don't worry about it…"

"What?"

Mimi decided to settle for a half-truth.

"I'm afraid she might be angry with me. I just ran away, Roger. Just like that. No note or anything. Just packed a bag and left. And now I've been gone for over five years. No letter, no phone call, nothing. Did you know she called me once? She somehow managed to track me down and she called me and left a message on my answering machine. It was when I was… gone…" Mimi settled for the least harsh way to describe her time on the streets the previous Winter. "After I got out of the hospital, I noticed it, but I just ignored it and moved up to your apartment. I decided to just let her think that it was somebody else or she had gotten the wrong number or something. She's probably so mad at me…" She was close to tears by the end of her explanation.

"Mimi, she's your mother. I'm sure she'll take you back no matter what she did. I mean, she went through all that trouble to track you down, so she must still miss you and love you. I'm sure she would rather you suddenly showed up now, five years later, than stay away from her for the rest of her life, leaving her to constantly worry about you and wonder what happened to you."

Mimi silently thought that over.

"I guess you're right."  
"See? So there's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to worry about."

Mimi half-nodded, trying to believe him.

"What else is there?"

"Nothing. There's nothing else. That's it."

Mimi hoped desperately that Roger would just believe her and let it go, but knew that he never would.

"Mimi, come on. Tell me."

"It's just… I'm afraid of… Who else I might see…"  
She tried not to watch as the look of confusion in Roger's eyes slowly changed into one of realization and then fury. He took a moment to gain control of his anger before speaking.

"Mimi, I won't let him hurt you. I promise. You know that. I won't let him get anywhere near you. He even tries to touch you and I'll kill him. And I won't let him stand between you and you mother. She's the only real family you've got left, he shouldn't be able to keep that away from you."

"You're my family," she responded tenderly, touching his cheek softly. Roger smiled at her.

"You know what I mean. I'll take you to her on Wednesday, and I'll protect you and make sure that everything's ok."

"Ok. That sounds nice." Mimi wrapped her arms around Roger's neck, pulling herself closer to him. "You're amazing, do you know that?"

"As often as you tell me that, I should by now," he answered playfully, leaning in closer and giving her a short kiss on the lips. Mimi laughed.

"I love you," she said, looking in his eyes.

"I love you too," he murmured, leaning in closer and kissing her again, more passionately this time. Mimi kissed him back and hoped the walls between his room and Rebecca's room weren't too thin.

* * *

_So, there's my chapter. I hope to have the next one up (It'll probably be pretty short.) by Tuesday, since I'll be gone for five days after that-I'm going to Colorado! Excitement! :p_


	4. Alice Davis

_gets on knees and begs for forgiveness, I am soooooo sorry about this unbelievably long wait, I feel terrible! I went to Colorado for a week, then when I got back I found out my cousins were visiting from Virginia, so I had to help my mom clean the house, then my cousins visited from Virginia and they were here all week and I was running around doing stuff with them the whole time and I had pretty much no time to write. And while my cousins were visiting if I so much as looked at the computer my mom would rip my head off. But, I got it down now, so, hopefully, you guys can forgive me?_

_Before you start, I have two things (That I remember, but as soon as I post this I know I'll remember something else adn go "Darn it!" just like every time I do this.) that I need to clarify for you guys:_

_1. Roger's parents know that he has HIV, but they don't know about Mimi yet. Rebecca does, because Roger writes to her, but she doesn't share everything wtih her parents, so they don't know that yet._

_2. Later on in this story there are going to be a lot of references to Mimi's past. I'm not going to be explaining them in this story, because I already explained them in my one-shot a while back called "Did I Ever Tell You?" It's not hard to catch onto what happened, so you don't have to read it, but just know that I won't be going in-depth to what happened during her childhood in this story, because I already did in another one and that's just repetitive._

_Thanx to my beta-reader, Steph, once again, and thanx to my imdb Twilighters and my friends Kim and Shawnna for helping me out with my writer's block half-way through the chapter. :p_

_Wow, this was probably the longest AN I have ever written... Well...Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Roger awoke the next morning to a loud rapping on his door. He ignored it for the moment and decided to stay where he was, with his head resting on Mimi's chest-it was so much more comfortable then getting up to answer the door. Or, rather, getting up, putting on some boxers, and _then_ answering the door. But, he had forgotten how impatient Rebecca got with door knocking and heard the door open a mere five seconds after the knocking had started.

"Roger, Mimi-Marie says to get up. Breakfast is-Oh my God!" He then heard the door slamming, followed by Rebecca's slightly frazzled and muffled voice come from the other side of the door. "Ok… You're busy, sorry… When you're ready, breakfast is downstairs." Then he heard her footsteps running as fast as they could to get away from Roger's door. Roger started laughing.

"What the hell was that about?" Mimi asked, beginning to wake up.  
"I have no idea. It's not like we're _that_ bad," Roger said, lifting his head up to look Mimi in the eyes. His eyes strayed downward. "Well, I guess you could be covered up a little better…" Mimi laughed. "But, it's not like we were actually doing anything when she walked in." Mimi laughed again. "But, I guess we'd better get down there before she assumes otherwise."

"Good morning, you two," Marie greeted them as they entered the kitchen, "What took you so long, I sent Becca up there to get you two ten minutes ago." Roger looked over to the small table in the corner, where Rebecca sat, determinedly staring at her plate of eggs and bacon.

"Well, we had to actually get dressed," Roger explained, "…And stuff…" Rebecca banged her head on the table. Roger started laughing.

"It's not funny," she argued, lifting her head back up, "I will forever have that image burned into my mind."

"What image? We were lying down!"

"Hush, you two, and eat," Marie said, beginning to spoon eggs and bacon onto two more plates for Roger and Mimi. Roger and Rebecca always ate in the kitchen when their parents weren't around. They liked it much better than sitting at that large table in the dining room, it was slightly eerie. Marie's kitchen was always cheerful, mostly do to Marie herself. She was hardly ever in a bad mood and always had a joke to tell or a story to share. She would also always allow-and sometimes make- the two help her with the cooking, which was the reason for Roger's enhanced cooking skills.

"Wow, Roger," Mimi said after taking a bite of the eggs, "I used to think your eggs were good, but these was amazing. I don't know how I'll be able to eat yours when we get back home."

Roger gave her a look and lightly swatted her arm. "Fine, you can eat eggs from McDonald's."

"You mean, 'eggs' from McDonald's," Rebecca corrected him, adding the proper quotation marks around the word "eggs". Roger laughed.

"Touché."

"Daddy," Nathan finally spoke up, "Mawie wet me hewp make the eggs today."

"Really? Well, that was very nice of her."

"She wouwdn't wet me neaw the bacon, though, because she said I wouwd get gwease on me wike you did and wouwdn't be able to use my wight hand fow a week." Mimi and Rebecca laughed.  
Roger rolled his eyes. "It was four days." he corrected quietly, making the two girls laugh harder.

"Well, I'm sure Nathan would have enough sense not to try and grab the bacon right out of the pan instead of using a spatula," Marie added, and the girls laughed even harder. Even Roger smiled slightly.

"So, what are you kids planning on doing today?" Marie asked maternally. She seemed to be more motherly towards the Davis children than their parents were.

"I was going to take Mimi and Nathan to visit Nana today," Roger answered.

"Can I come?" Rebecca asked.

"Can you walk?" Marie responded. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"_May_ I come?" she amended, looking at Marie, she smiled and began cleaning up the breakfast mess at the counter.

"There had better be a 'please' in there somewhere," Roger answered, keeping his eyes down on his plate. Rebecca's eyes flashed and she dove forward at Roger with her fork raised.

"Rebecca Davis, you drop that fork," Marie called over her shoulder. Rebecca shot one last malevolent look at Roger before dropping her fork and continuing to glare at him. Mimi was stunned. She couldn't remember seeing Marie turn around.

"You can come, Rebecca," Mimi said before another bickering fit could start. Roger looked over at her.

"I would've said 'yes', I was just messing with her." Mimi rolled her eyes at him and he lightly shoved her. She laughed and returned to her breakfast, feeling perfectly at ease in Roger's childhood home for the first time since they had arrived.

Back at a hospital. Mimi had managed to stay out for two and a half months, but she got pulled back in again. She wasn't entirely sure if this visit counted, though, since she didn't know the person she was visiting.

"Hey, Shirley," Rebecca said as soon as they walked in.

"Hey, Rebecca," one of the nurses behind the desk commented, "Here to visit your grandmother again?"

"Nah, I thought I would just pop in on some random patient I've never met before. You know, just to spicen things up a bit." Shirley laughed.

"Well, you know the room, head right on up."

"Ok, thanks." Roger and Mimi went to follow her, but Shirley stopped them.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"They're with me," Rebecca explained, "This is my brother Roger, his fiancée Mimi, and my nephew Nathan. I told you they were coming, remember?"

"Oh, right. Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Roger. Rebecca talks about you non-stop." Rebecca reddened slightly.

"Well, better get going before Nana decides we're a lost cause and adopts the staff," she said, heading off down the hall. "I'll go in first, since once she sees you guys I'll disappear." Roger gave her a slight shove and in return she kicked him lightly.

"Hey, you two, cut that out," Mimi scolded jokingly.

Nana was talking to one of the nurses when Rebecca walked in.

"I might have to stay here for a while, the food is actually pretty good. _And_ I don't have to cook it. Why some people complain about hospital food is beyond me."

"Well, we're glad you like it, Mrs. Davis," the nurse responded smilingly. This was one of her favorite patients. She was always so cheerful and kind to everyone. She would be sad when she left, whatever the circumstances.

"Oh, and here's my granddaughter. Hey, Becca, how are you doing?" The nurse quietly excuse herself and left the room to give the two some privacy.

"Fine. Mom and Dad are driving me up the wall as usual."

"Well, that's just in their nature. Ignore them and eventually you'll be moving out." Rebecca smiled slightly and Nana sighed.

"Dammit, girl, you have _got_ to stop doing that. You're going to drive me insane."

"Do what?"

"Never being actually happy in this room."

"Nana, we're in a hospital. That's not exactly cause for celebration."

"True. But I'm still alive. And just because we're sitting in a hospital instead of my house doesn't mean that you can't laugh at my jokes or we can't act like everything is just normal." Rebecca bit back her tongue to keep from pointing out to Nana that things were _not_ just normal, so it was impossible for her to act this way. She couldn't help but think that pretty soon she would have to go through this all over again.

"So, where's that damned brother of yours? I haven't seen him in years. Wasn't he supposed to be visiting soon?"

"Actually, that's kind of why I'm here today."

"Wouldn't you be here anyway?" Rebecca smiled at her.  
"Yes, but I also came today because Roger didn't know what room you're in."  
"He's here?" Nana seemed considerably more cheerful than she already was. "Well, where the hell is he? Send him in." Rebecca turned to get him. "Wait-does he have the other two with him?" Rebecca nodded. "Tell him I want to see just him first." She nodded again and went out into the hall.

"Nana wants to see just you, first, Roger."

Roger nodded to her before setting Nathan down and entering the hospital room.

"There's my eldest grandchild," Nana smiled as he walked in. She gave him a hug and then gestured to the plastic chair next to her bed, "Have a seat."

"It's great seeing you again, Nana."

"You too. I haven't seen you in two years. What the hell's up with that? You too cool to come back home anymore?" Roger smiled.

"Sorry."

"How is everything? How are your friends? Becca told me Maureen and Mark broke up."

"Yeah, she dumped him for another woman." They both laughed at this.

"Well, don't let either of them know this, but I think that was for the best. Maureen needs someone who can manage to hold her down for a while. Mark's too soft, he let her walk all over him. How are things between her and her girlfriend?"

"Great. They've been together for a year and a half now. Things have been a little rocky at times, but every relationship is like that every now and then."

"Rocky times are good. Help you know what your relationship can endure and how much you truly care for each other. A real relationship can't grow amidst easy and comfortable situations. You need challenges to make it stay. And how has Mark been doing? I'll bet he was pretty torn up." For the first time since approaching the subject Nana became sympathetic as she examined the other side of the situation.

"He's doing great now. He was pretty upset at first, but he's got himself a girlfriend now and the two are crazy about each other."  
"That's good. And what is this new girl like?"  
"She's perfect for him. She's strong and outspoken, but always knows the right moments to cave. She doesn't insist on always having her way like Maureen did, so she's a little easier for Mark to handle." They both laughed again.

"How about Benny? I haven't heard much about him."

"He's doing fine. He and Allison started taking counseling a couple of months ago and now they're doing better."

"That's good to hear. Now, how about you? Becca tells me you're engaged?"

"Yeah." Roger smiled slightly.

"Wow. This girl must be pretty special, getting _you_ to settle down."

"She's amazing."

"You brought her, right? I specifically told Becca that I wanted to meet this girl."

"Yeah. She's here. She's standing outside with Becca and Nathan."

"And Nathan's here too? Wonderful! I can meet my first great-grandchild. Oh, God… That makes me sound so old…" Roger smiled.

"You're not old, Nana, just experienced," he said, using the term she would often sue to describe herself. She laughed.

"Sure, whatever you say. So, this Nathan, why haven't I heard of him before a few weeks ago?"

"Because I hadn't heard of him until about a month ago." She was silent for a moment after that, thinking over what to say next and whether or not she should say it.

"Is he that other girl's? The one you brought to visit last time you were here?"

"Yes, Nana, he's April's."

She was silent again.

"Now, you know that I would never just bad-talk anything you or Becca have ever cared about, but I really didn't like that girl."

"Nana, you never met that girl. No one here has. She disappeared long before I came to visit." Roger always felt uncomfortable trying to explain this to people. Because of how April was in the last year or so of her life people tended to remember her as a bad person, but she wasn't. The real April had died long before she did. After all the drugs and messed up years the two spent together she changed, just like Roger did. Only April killed herself before she could take a stab at changing back. Nana nodded, though, as if she understood. She probably did. Nana understood a lot of things others didn't without explanation. One of the reasons she was so easy to talk to.

"Well, I want to meet him," she said suddenly, "Bring him in here. Her too." Roger smiled at her and left the room.

Mimi was sitting in one of the randomly placed chairs in the hallway, her head leaning back against the seat. Rebecca sat next to her, one hand holding Nathan's as he spun around and around in a pirouette.

"Look, Daddy! I'm a bawewina!" Nathan announced as he came out. Roger smiled at him.

"Awesome. But, you now, Nathan, if you were an actual ballerina, the girl would be doing the spinning."

"Why?" He looked devastated at the thought.

"Because they're easier to throw around," Rebecca answered. Mimi laughed. Nathan just stared at her.

"I couwdn't thwow you awound." He looked shocked that anyone would ever suggest it. Mimi laughed harder and Rebecca joined her.

"You could if she were your size," Roger answered. Then he bent down and picked him up, "Come on, Nana wants to meet you guys."

They walked into the hospital room, Mimi trying not to look too nervous.

"Nana, this is my son, Nathan, and my fiancée, Mimi." He gestured over to Mimi and she mumbled a quiet "Hi." wondering why she was suddenly so shy around Roger's family when she was usually very outgoing.

"Oh my God, Roger, he is the spitting image of you twenty years ago. Here, bring him closer." She smiled brightly as Roger sat the boy down on her bed. Nathan just stared at her, his thumb in his mouth, looking nervous.

"Nathan, this is Nana, she's your great-grandmother," Roger explained. Nathan stared at Roger, then looked back at Nana. Deciding, apparently, that she seemed friendly enough and posed no threat to him, he pulled his thumb out of his mouth and held his hand out.

"Pweased to meet you," he said quietly, just like the day before.

"Oh! He is adorable!" She exclaimed as she grabbed his hand and shook it slightly, "It is a pleasure to meet you, as well. Where did you learn such nice manners?"

"My Gwandma." Nana looked over at Roger.

"Julia?" she asked, confused. She would guess that Julia wouldn't acknowledge the child's existence, let alone teach him the proper way to greet someone.

"No. Margaret. His other grandma." She nodded and then turned her attention back to the child.

"I have something for you," she stated in that way Roger and Rebecca were used to when she came back from one of her travel-the-world trips and had brought them back souvenirs.

"Fow me?" He looked eager at the thought of getting a random present from someone. She laughed.

"Yes, for you. Roger, open the top drawer and take out the item that has Christmas paper wrapping on it." She shot a glance at Rebecca.

"It was all you had," she defended herself.

Nathan held the package, which was large enough to cover is whole lap, and looked at Nana.

"Well? Open it." She looked eager to see what his response was. Nathan ripped back the paper to reveal a large quilt.

"Ooh…" he marveled, gathering the quilt to himself and snuggling into it.

"Rebecca's always telling me about how cold you say it is in that apartment yours and I've been making that thing for years. I finally have a practical use for it."

The quilt was made of dozens of squares of fabrics from many different countries. Roger, in fact, recognized the quilt from his own childhood days. When he, Nana, and Rebecca would just settle down in the living room to relax Nana would always be working on it.

"Thank you, Nana," Nathan said, is voice slightly muffled by the quilt.

"You're very welcome." She then turned to look at Mimi.

"So, this is Mimi?"

"It's nice to meet you," she said, walking forward to shake her hand.

"What is with all the formalities in your family, Roger? Get over here, girl, and give me a hug." Mimi stepped forward and hugged her, being reminded forcefully of Rebecca. "You are gorgeous. And so thin. How much has Marie forced you to eat since you've arrived?" She laughed.

"Not much, actually. We were in sort of a hurry this morning and she wasn't around much at dinner last night."

"Yeah. Julia and Kenneth always make that girl disappear whenever they're around. That _is_ the mark of a good servant, to never be seen." She rolled her eyes as if she strongly disagreed with her son and daughter-in-law. She looked back over at Mimi.

"Roger, Rebecca, do you mind giving me some alone time to talk to my future granddaughter-in-law?"

"Sure," Roger said, he picked Nathan up, making sure to gather all of the quilt with him, so it wouldn't hit the floor, and walked out with Rebecca.

"You can come closer, dear, I'm not going to bite you."

Mimi smiled slightly and walked closer to her bed. There was a long moment of silence as Nana studied Mimi, she felt like she was in a pet shop with a potential owner looking her over, wondering if she should buy her or not. Finally, after nearly a minute of silence, she spoke.

"So, you're the girl who finally got my grandson to settle down?"

"I hope so. Otherwise I have majorly misinterpreted this ring," she answered. Nana laughed.

"I like you." She was quiet for another moment. "If you don't' mind me asking," she dropped her voice, "How the hell did you manage that?" Mimi laughed.

"I have no idea. I'm also sort of surprised that he got me to settle down."

"Oh, both free spirits. This should be interesting." They were silent again and Mimi began to fidget uneasily. It wasn't that she felt nervous around Nana-she was a very comfortable person to be around-but she still felt slightly nervous about any of Roger's family members disliking her.

"Are you pregnant?" Nana finally asked, out of the blue. Mimi jumped slightly-she hadn't been expecting that question. "I was just asking, because you keep resting your hands around your stomach, kind of protectively and Roger keeps giving you that look."

Mimi was confused by that.

"Look?"

"Yeah. That look normal guys give their loves when she's pregnant. That look of complete adoration mingled with apprehension and worry and a little excitement and anticipation. Roger's grandfather gave me those same looks when I was pregnant with Kenneth." She looked at Mimi expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Yes," she finally answered, "I am."  
"Do Julia and Kenneth know?"

"No. Roger said it wouldn't be best to tell them."

"Smart kid. It probably _wouldn't_ be best to tell them. They'll just twist the sweet, happy little miracle into something ugly and dreadful. Best to keep it something you're happy about." They were quiet again and then Nana smiled at her again. "You seem like a nice girl, Mimi, I'm glad Roger's marrying you." Mimi smiled.

"Thanks."

"Would you open the bottom drawer for me, please, I have something I want to give you."

Mimi looked at her oddly before bending over and reaching into the bottom drawer. She pulled out a small jewelry case and stood back up.

"What is it with you people? Open it." Nana joked with her. Mimi smiled and snapped the case open. Inside were two gold rings. They were cut in waves so when you stacked them on top of each other they fit together like a puzzle. Mimi looked at Nana, stunned.

"Those were the rings Roger's grandfather and I got married with." She smiled at the memory. "He was the only man I ever truly loved and he was always about making things special. He said regular wedding bands wouldn't do and had those specially made. He died when Kenneth was about two years old. And then two more years later I made the dumbest mistake of my life." Mimi looked up from the rings to show that she was listening. "I had no problems making ends meet as it was, I had money inherited from my parents and from Christian, but I thought that Kenneth should have some sort of father figure growing up. So I began dating and I finally ended up marrying Phillip. He was horrible. Not to me or to Kenneth, but to everyone else. He was so self-righteous and it's pretty much his fault that Kenneth turned out the way he did." She stared morosely out the window for a while, before turning back to Mimi. "But, Phillip did get Kenneth and Julia together and as much as I detest the two, they gave me the two best grandchildren a woman can ask for, so it all didn't turn out too badly."

She smiled and Mimi smiled slightly back.

"Why are you giving these to me?" she finally asked.

"Well, I assumed Roger hadn't thought that far ahead yet and didn't have any, and even if he did I would like him to use those. Christian would have been thrilled."

"Don't you need them?"

"Honey, I'm dying. Nobody is willing to say it out loud, but I am. I'll be in the ground within another week or two and I certainly will not be needing them. I wish Roger had told me about this beforehand, though, I could've given him my engagement ring to use."  
"He probably wouldn't have wanted that."

"No, he wouldn't have. Stubborn boy, he thinks it means more if he works for it."

Mimi shrugged.

"It shows he's willing to work hard for us to be together."

Nana looked at her for a long time before smiling.

"I really like you. I'm sure you two will make each other very happy."

"We already do," Mimi answered, smiling. Nana glanced at her stomach briefly.

"I can see that." The two girls laughed and the door opened as a nurse walked in.

"Time for your check-ups, Alice," the nurse said.

"Damn, you people always come in at the worst times," Nana scolded semi-seriously.

"Sorry. Doctor's orders, not mine." Nana smiled.

"It's all right."  
"We have to leave already?" Rebecca asked walking in. "I didn't even get to talk to her yet. Roger and Mimi were hogging her the whole time."

"I'm sorry," Nana said, hugging her, "You can always come back tomorrow, sweetie."

"Ok," she said and went to stand by the door.

"Bye, Nana," Roger said, hugging her, "Sorry I wasn't by to visit more often."

"Oh, it's all right, I don't mind. As long as you do visit. Now, where's that little child, I didn't get to hug him yet." Roger smiled and lifted Nathan onto the bed, still draped in his new quilt, and Nana hugged him as well.

"Bye, Nana. Thank you fow the quiwt," he said.  
"Oh, you're welcome. You take good care of that."

"Ok."

Finally Mimi stepped forward and gave her a hug.  
"Thanks for the rings," she whispered, holding back tears at how nicely Nana had treated her.

"You're welcome, darling. Now, you take care of my grandson, Lord knows he needs that." Mimi laughed before walking back over to Roger. She took his hand and they walked out, still hearing Nana's half-hearted complaints as they started down the hall.

* * *

_There you go. I finished it. But it was quite long, so I hope that makes up for the wait. :) The next one should be up pretty soon since I can't think of much to put in it and, so, it'll be kind of short. It should be up by Friday, because after that I won't be on the computer for several days and then the guilt would be eating at me all over again for making you guys wait long two chapter in a row. :p  
_


	5. Aunt and Nephew

_Ok, this chapter is really short, and I feel a need to explain why. Originally, I had this chapter and the next planned as one chapter, but the two had absolutely nothing in common, so I split them up. Otherwise it was really weird, and they both, actually, turned out to be a little longer than I thought they would be, so the chapter would've been really long._

_Thanx to Steph, again.  
_

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"So, where to next?" Roger asked as they walked out of the hospital, all clearly relieved to leave the place behind.

"I'm hungry," Rebecca immediately piped up, as if she had been waiting for him to ask this.

"I'm kind of hungry, too," Mimi agreed and they set off into town to find something to eat.

They ended up at a local restaurant Roger used to always eat at with his friends or take his sister to whenever they were hanging out together.

"This place has the best hot dogs ever," Rebecca said as they looked over their menus.

"Daddy, I want a hot dog, pwease," Nathan said. Roger smiled at him. Hot dogs were Nathan's favorite food, he was pretty sure this love of hot dogs mostly stemmed from the fact that it was a forbidden food in his grandmother's house.

"Me too," Rebecca agreed, "And fries. They're fries are really good, too."

"Becca, everything here is really good," Roger commented.

"Touché."

Mimi laughed.

"Then, I guess I'll have a hot dog and fries."

They all ended up ordering hot dogs a few platters of fries for them all to share.

They all sat around for a while, talking. Roger made Rebecca fill him in on everything that was going on with her and she did the same for him. Finally, Nathan seemed to be getting restless and they paid the bill and left.

"What do we do now?" Rebecca asked.

"Well, first we should drop this quilt off at home," Roger answered, worried that they might destroy it carrying it around town with them, "Then we should go do something fun. Between Mom and Dad and visiting Nana in the hospital, this is as been a bit of a downer of a trip."

Rebecca laughed and Mimi gave Roger a slight shove.

"What? Don't deny it. Besides, we can't keep boring Nathan by having him tag along with us to all these places where all he has to do is sit there and listen."

"Ooh, let's go to the park," Rebecca suggested, "I haven't been there in a while. Danny and I used to go there all the time together, but it's boring going there yourself." She looked sad for a moment before grabbing the quilt from Roger and running the last half block to their house. Roger froze and stared after her.

"So she's still weird… That's nice to know." Mimi laughed and shoved him again. "What?" he laughed, "I'm glad to know. She would be boring otherwise. I was afraid the years without me might end up turning her into Mom and Dad."

"Ew. God forbid that." Rebecca had returned and was wearing a look of disgust at the thought of being even a little like either of her parents. Roger laughed and they began walking towards the park near their house.

"Swings!" Nathan exclaimed when they were about half a block away, "Daddy, wiw you push me on the swings?"

"I'll do it," Rebecca interrupted before Roger had a chance to answer. Then she turned to Nathan, "And I'll race you there."

"No faiw, you'd tawer than me," Nathan argued.

"Then I'll give you a head start. Go." She stood still cocking her head from side to side a few times, counting to ten, and then tore off after him. He was just about to reach the swings when she ran up behind him and lifted him off the ground, spinning him around. Even from a distance, it was easy to tell the two were having the time of their lives.

* * *

Roger and Mimi both smiled as they watched them and sat down on one of the benches where they could keep an eye on the two. They just sat in silence for a while, watching as Rebecca pushed Nathan higher and higher on the swing and then as the two climbed all over the jungle gym together and went down the slides.

"So, is that you two ten years ago?" Mimi asked, resting her head on Roger's shoulder, "Only, you know, reversed." Roger laughed.

"Yeah, pretty much. Only Becca was always more vocal than Nathan on what we should do next." Mimi laughed with him and the two lapsed back into silence, watching the two children play like they'd known each other their entire lives.

Rebecca collapsed onto the grass an hour later, looking over at Nathan who was somehow still able to run around all over the place.

"You have, like, endless amounts of energy, kid, don't you?" she breathed, as he ran over and stood by her, waiting for her to get back up.

"He gets it from his aunt!" she heard her brother shout at her from across the playground. Rebecca lifted her head and stuck her tongue out at him before collapsing back onto the grass. Nathan stood still, watching her, before collapsing onto the ground next to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Whatevew you'we doing."

"But, Nathan, that's because I'm tired. You're not, so you can keep running around if you want."

He shook his head.

"It's not the same without you."

They were both quiet after that, just laying in the grass and trying to ignore how itchy it felt. Then, they began to hear jingling music in the distance and Rebecca sat bolt upright.

"Ice cream man!" she exclaimed. Nathan sat up more slowly and stared at her, confused. "Haven't you ever gotten ice cream from the ice cream man?"

"What's the ice cweam man?"

"Oh, my God!" She jumped up and turned to shout across the playground, "Roger! I'm taking Nathan to get some ice cream from the ice cream man!" He nodded at her and flashed the thumbs up before returning to talking to Mimi and Rebecca grabbed Nathan's hand and lead him down the street to where all the little kids stood in line for ice cream.

"What do you want?" she asked him, gesturing towards the side of the truck, which showed all the different flavors. Nathan's eyes almost fell out of his head.

"They haf all those ice cweams?"

"Yep."

"And I can have one?"

"Yep."  
"Whichevew one I want?"

"Yep."  
"Wow." He continued to just stare at the truck for a while before choosing an ice cream, then changing his mind moments later to something else, only to change it again as soon as he'd decided. By the time it was their turn, he still hadn't made up his mind.

"What would you like?" the lady in the truck asked. Rebecca looked down at Nathan before returning her gaze to the lady.

"I'll have a screwball." Then she turned to the toddler, "What do you want Nathan?"

Nathan just stared up at her helplessly.

"I can't choose. You choose fow me." Rebecca just stared at him, she had no idea what to pick. But then he looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Pwease?"

"Ok… Um…" She turned back to the lady. "And a push-pop." She loved those when she was little.

The two sat down on the grass, eating their ice cream and just thinking for a while.

"Aunty Becca," Nathan said after a while, when he was down to the last of his ice cream.  
"Yeah?"

"Do you and Daddy wike eachothew?"

Rebecca was shocked by that question.

"What? Yeah. Of course I do. Why would you think otherwise?"

"You yew at each othew a wot."

"No, we don't. We nit-pick at each other. We bicker. But we don't actually yell. Most of the time. I mean, we haven't yelled since you got here and we hardly ever actually fight with each other."

"Oh." He was thoughtful for a moment. "Why?"

"Because we're brother and sister. That's just what we do. It doesn't mean we don't like each other. I mean, he's been there my whole life. He was always there to give me advice when I needed it or help on my homework. He did all that usual older brother stuff, like teaching me how to play baseball and ride a bike and throw a punch. He would always stay up with me when I was sick or watch my favorite movie with me when I was down. I love him, he's my brother. Bickering and arguing is just part of the 'being brother and sister' thing."

"Oh."

They were silent after that, Rebecca thinking back to all the brother-sister moments she always had with Roger and how they pretty much stopped two years after he left.

"So, wiw I be wike that wif my bwothew ow sistew?" Nathan suddenly asked. Rebecca just looked at him.

"Uh… Sure," she answered, not sure what else to say. She doubted whether Roger and Mimi would be having anymore kids, but she didn't want to upset the kid.

"Awesome. I'm gonna be just wike what you said Daddy was." Then he went off on all the plans he had for when he would be a big brother. It was adorable to watch and Rebecca couldn't shake off the way he talked about it, like he was so sure he was going to be a big brother. She looked over at Roger and Mimi, who had stopped talking and were now leaning against each other, Roger's arms around Mimi, and began wondering…

* * *

_I'll have the next chapter up no later than tomorrow. (beta-reader pending. :p) I'm almost done with it and I would finish it now, except I just got back home from border's and I have my Breaking Dawn book and I am really dying to read that-it's the last book in the series. You guys can understand that and forgive me, right? _


	6. Old Friends

_Here's chapter six. It's short, like I said, but it wouldn't have made sense with the other chapter. :p_

_Thanx to Steph, again, and now I'll stop bothering you with new chapter sso you can finish Breaking Dawn. :p_

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"Hey, guys," Rebecca said as she headed toward Roger and Mimi about an hour later, "I think we should head home. Nathan's about to pass out on the grass." She pointed behind her to where Nathan sat, leaning against a tree, his eyes half-open. As they watched he yawned largely. They all stifled laughs and Roger walked over to him.

"Hey, Buddy, you ready to go back to the house?" he asked, leaning on the ground in front of him. Nathan just nodded, rubbing at his eyes and Roger picked him up to carry him back.

* * *

"There you kids are!" Marie exclaimed as they walked in the front door. "I was about to send out a search party for you. And what did you do to that poor kid? He looks almost passed out."

"He and Becca were playing at the playground together," Roger explained, "He'll be fine, but I think he's going to need to go to bed soon."

"Well, then it's a good idea I have dinner all ready. Come on, you're parents went out to another dinner party, so you guys can eat in the kitchen."

"Yes!" Rebecca exclaimed, "And they didn't make me go with them! You guys should visit more often."

"Wash your hands," Marie commented as they entered the kitchen.

Dinner that night was much more enjoyable than the one the night before. Everybody was talking and laughing and having a good time. Marie interacted with everyone more and everybody was just much happier and more relaxed. It almost reminded Mimi of back in New York, when she and Roger would get together with all their friends for dinner at whatever place they decide to annoy that day, only with no alcohol.

"Aunty Becca, do you wanna go pway something wif me?" Nathan asked once they were done eating, now re-energized from the food.

"Sure." Rebecca looked ecstatic at the little child's desire to play with her. She had always wanted a younger sibling and this was just as good as. The two left the kitchen and headed for Nathan's room, after dropping their dishes off in the sink.

"Well, I guess we have the night to ourselves," Roger commented to Mimi, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Ooh, what are we going to do?"

"I have no idea. But, whatever it is, I want to get the hell out of this house."

Mimi laughed.

"Roger, we just got here. And you've barely spent any of that time 'in this house' and most of the time you _did_ spend here you were asleep."

"True. But that doesn't make my desire to leave any smaller."

"Well, then where do you want to go?"

"I don't care, let's just get out of here."

Mimi laughed and they grabbed their coats and walked out into the evening air.

* * *

They ended up visiting a bar Roger's old friends usually frequented, hoping to see one of them. To Roger's delight, all three of the friends that had stayed behind were there.

"Oh, my God," a man at the bar said laughing, "Don't tell me that's actually the Roger Davis, come back from the big city to visit us small-town folk."

Roger smiled and play-punched him on the arm.

"Yeah, Becca's one persuasive teenager."

They all laughed at that, probably thinking back to how she had behaved when she was a very persuasive child.

"So, what finally got you down here?" asked a man who was sitting next to the first, "After you left last time, Rebecca told me you said you were 'never going to be caught dead back here.'"

Roger sobered slightly at the thought of his last visit. It had not gone well at all and he had acted like a total jackass to everybody, especially Rebecca. He tried not to think about it and since she never really mentioned it, he followed her lead and didn't mention it either.

"Nana's in the hospital. It's probably the last time, this time, and she said she really wanted to see me, so I came." The other guys became somber immediately.

"Wow…" the last guy of the group said, "Really? Man, I cannot imagine that woman being in the hospital for the last time…"

Nana had been a wonderful grandmother, not just to her own grandchildren, but to their friends, as well. She always treated them like her own grandchildren and would bake them cookies, play games with them, give them advice, let them watch movies and eat in the living room. The thought of her gone was a depressing thought to all of them.

"But, I didn't come here to depress all of you guys, so I want you to meet my fiancée, Mimi." The men's eyes were drawn, for the first time, to the small Latina girl standing beside Roger.

"Whoa…" the last guy to speak said, looking her over, then he held his hand out to her, "Hi, I'm Eric."

"Watch it…'" Roger growled half-jokingly.

"I'm just kidding," he laughed.

"You better have been," Roger muttered, "Mimi, these are some of my old high school buddies. You already know Eric, and that's Carl" he motioned to the man who had first spoken, "And Scott, the unfortunate man who married my cousin Kayla."

"Not fair, man, I never insulted the girls you liked," Scott defended himself, laughing.

"Yeah, but that's just because I never dated any of your cousins. I'm still not sure how you got her to shut-up long enough to propose to her."

They all laughed again and Mimi smiled slightly, trying not to feel awkward. Roger placed his hand lightly on her back and guided her to sit down in one of the empty chairs at the table, pulling her chair out for her before seating himself.

"Wow," Carl said suddenly, "Man, she has got you trained a german shepherd." The men all laughed and that and Mimi held her hand to her face to keep from laughing.

"Well, just because you seem to have forgotten the manners your mother raised you with, Carl, doesn't mean we all have."

"Ooh," the other two said before bursting out laughing again.

"So, Mimi, could you explain something to me, please?" Scott asked, turning to Mimi.

"Uh… Depends on what it is…"

He laughed.

"It's nothing big, really. Just… How the _hell_ did you get _this _guy-" he gestured towards Roger "-to propose."

"Five bucks says she asked him," Eric commented and they all laughed again.

"I, honestly, have no idea," Mimi finally answered once they had quieted, "I'm, actually, more interested in how _he_ managed to get _me_ to settle down- I was always more of a 'go out and party with a different guy each week' kind of girl. I've only had, like, three actual boyfriends."

"Wow…" Carl commented, "He had you beat Freshmen year."

They all laughed again and this time Roger joined them.

"Well, then, I guess that just means Roger made more mistakes than I did," she defended herself and they all "Ooh"ed again as Roger smiled in slight embarrassment.

"I like this girl," Eric commented, "She's perfect for you, Rog. She's, like, sassy enough to keep you in-line."

"Yeah, I know," he agreed lovingly, wrapping an arm around Mimi's shoulders. Mimi smiled at him and kissed hi lightly on the cheek before resting her head on hi shoulder.

The guys began catching up with each other after that. Scott claimed everything was fine with Kayla, although Roger seriously wondered how someone as awesome as Scott could tolerate someone as shallow and bitchy and Kayla; Eric had just been dumped by his long-term girlfriend and was currently scouting for someone new (Roger half-jokingly warned him to stay away from Mimi or else he'd break his hand off); and Carl was currently trying to figure out how to bring about the subject of marriage to his commitment-phobe girlfriend without scaring her off.

Mimi just rested her head against Roger's shoulder as the friends caught up with each other, sipping her soda as the others ordered beer-nobody made a comment about her lack of alcohol consumption and she was glad.

They had been sitting there for a little over an hour and Mimi was just drifting off to sleep when the music in the bar switched to "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith. **(A/N: I have no idea when this song came out, so I'm sorry if the timing is off-I just think the song is cute and have always imagined Roger and Mimi dancing to it. :p) **She watched with half-open eyes as couples slow danced with each other in the small hardwood floor in the middle of the bar. Suddenly, she decided she wanted Roger back. Her eyes snap open and she grabbed Roger's hand, pulling him off his chair.

"Mimi, what are you doing?" Roger asked, half-laughing.

"Come dance with me!" she exclaimed, pulling him toward the dance floor.

Roger glanced back at his friends and gave them a half wave, before turning back around to face Mimi.

"You're lucky I love you so much, or else I would be very pissed right now," Roger laughed, wrapping his arms around Mimi's waist.

"Yes, I feel _very_ lucky," Mimi agreed, her arms tight around Roger's neck and a smile on her face.

They danced in silence for a while, Mimi's head leaning on Roger's shoulder, her eyes closed and a content smile on her face. She looked up at roger when she heard him singing along to the song. Mimi smiled, blushing slightly, as Roger leaned his forehead against hers and sang quietly to her, staring into her eyes with a look that couldn't be paralleled by anyone else.

The song ended and he leaned in to kiss her on the lips.

"I love you," he murmured, pulling back slightly to look in her eyes again.

"I love you, too," she sighed, smiling.

* * *

_The next chapter might take a while. I have a family picnic tomorrow and a book to finish. Plus, it should be pretty long from what I'm planning-but I'm excited for it, this is one of the chapter Ive been most looking forward to. :) But I'm not stepping near this computer again until I have finished my book. :p runs to go finish Breaking Dawn  
_


	7. Sisterly Talk

_I hope this is going to make up for the last two chapters being short-it's nine and a half pages long. :p_

_Something I forgot two chapters ago: Thanx to datagirl3 for giving me the idea for the chapter "Aunt and Nephew", otherwise that would've been one boring chapter. :p_

_Thanx to Steph, once again._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Mimi stumbled slightly on Roger's weight. Apparently, letting him drink while catching up with his old buddies until almost midnight was a bad idea. He was currently incoherent, something that normally entertained Mimi, except for tonight, as she was both sober and slightly lost.

"Roger," Mimi tried, patiently, while also trying to not laugh at Roger's behavior-ok, so she still found him entertaining. "Where is your house from here?"

"Mimi, we don't live in a house, silly," he managed to get out, slightly slurred, "How many drinks did you have?"

Mimi had to laugh at that.

"None, honey. _You_ on the other hand…"

She looked around her on the block and, thankfully, spotted a familiar house. She was pretty sure that the street Roger's parents' house was on was one block down. She was right, thank God, and, finally, stumbled into the house, Roger barely able to stay standing.

"Mimi…." Roger began slowly, looking around, "This isn't where we live."

How he was able to give her such a convincing look of him thinking she was crazy while drunk was beyond Mimi.

"No, it's your parents house, remember? We're staying here for the week." She began to lead him up the stairs while he thought that over.

"Oh yeah… Shit! When do we get to leave?"

Mimi burst out laughing as they entered their bedroom and let Roger collapse onto the bed.

"Now, what the hell am I going to do with you? You are on the verge of incapacitate and I am not changing your clothes."

"Why not?" he asked suggestively.

"Because you know where that leads and I don't want a repeat of this morning."

"Why? What happened this morning?"

Mimi rolled her eyes and walked over to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"You know, it might be a better idea for you to _try_ and be more well behaved while we're staying in your _parents'_ house," she called out to Roger, "Lord knows we don't need to give them another reason to hate you and I'll bet anything you do becomes my fault."

She was slightly surprised by the silence that greeted her after that.

"Roger, are you listening to me?" she asked, walking back out into the bedroom and doubting it. He was, of course, asleep. Mimi sighed and shook her head, unable to keep a smile from her face. Despite her vow to not change his clothes, she still took his shoes and jeans off, in an effort to make him semi-comfortable while he slept. He seemed deep enough in sleep that it wouldn't end up leading anywhere that Rebecca wouldn't want to hear.

**(A/N: That was my really bad attempt at writing someone drunk. :p I know it was bad, but I had to get Roger out of the picture somehow for the rest of the chapter. :p)**

Afterwards, Mimi got thirsty and decided to sneak downstairs to get a glass of water. Marie had assured her that if, at any time, she wanted something from the kitchen to just get it herself-this house was hers for as long as she stayed. She was on her way back to the bedroom, water glass in hand, when she heard a loud laugh fro down the hall. Rebecca was still up? Mimi's curiosity got the better of her and she quietly crept down the hall to Rebecca's bedroom. She stood outside the room nervously, before gaining enough courage to knock on the door. Immediately everything inside went silent and her nervous-rate increased tenfold. The door opened a crack and Mimi heard Rebecca sigh in relief, before opening the door wider.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack. I was afraid you might be Mom or Dad. They would _kill _me if they caught me on the phone this late." She opened the door and let Mimi in before turning back to the phone. "Hey, Danny, I gotta go… Yes, there is another guy here and he is in my room while I am talking to you…" She looked over at Mimi and rolled her eyes. "No, it's my brother's fiancée… I'll call you tomorrow… I love you, too." She hung up the phone and tossed it onto her bedside table. "So, what are you doing here? My brother boring you?"

"Well, he's asleep, so, yeah, pretty much." They both laughed and Rebecca turned to sit on her bed. She gestured to Mimi to sit, as well, and she joined her, feeling slightly awkward. Rebecca had a cd player turned on and it was playing music quietly. Currently, it was playing "White Wedding" by Billy Idol.

"Good song," Mimi commented, trying to break the silence.

"_Awesome_ song," Rebecca corrected her, "The whole cd is awesome. Roger made it for me before he left five years ago. He used to sing this song to me when I was in a crib. According to Marie."

Mimi smiled, she could definitely imagine ten-year-old Roger singing that song to his infant sister.

"I don't know what the hell made him think it was a proper lullaby, but whatever…" They both laughed again before the room fell into another silence as the song changed to "Dear Prudence" by the Beatles. "He used to sing this one too…"

Mimi gave her a weird look at that.

"Really? I thought your name was 'Rebecca'."

She made a face.

"'Prudence' is my middle name."

There was a short silence.

"_Prudence?" _Mimi asked, before bursting out laughing. "I'm sorry…" she gasped between laughs. "But… that is… really horrible…"

"And people wonder why I hate my parents," Rebecca agreed, joining Mimi in laughing. "Ok, enough about my sucky parents. Let's do some girl talk!"

"Why?"

"Because I have never had girl talk in my life."

"Seriously? Why not?'

"I've never had any close gal pals. It was mostly just Roger and Danny throughout my life. The closest thing I had was Marie, but she's really more like a mother to me, so it's different."

"Ok." It didn't sound like such a bad idea to Mimi. She, too, had never had someone like that growing up. "So, what are we going to discuss in our 'girl talk'."

"How about your first time? And don't try and give me that 'I'm saving myself for marriage and you should too.' bullshit. I _know_ you do stuff, at least, with Roger. I walked in on you guys this morning, remember?"

Mimi immediately felt self-conscious and looked down, not wanting the conversation to stray down _this_ path.

"I don't really want to talk about that…" she mumbled, hoping Rebecca wouldn't push it.

"That bad? I mean, everybody's first time is supposed to be bad in one way or another, because you have no idea what the hell you're doing and…" She trailed off as she got the look on Mimi's face, which she had been trying very hard to conceal. Rebecca seemed to take a moment to think before her eyes almost burst out of their sockets. "Oh, my God! I'm sorry, I…"

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault."

"I shouldn't have brought that up…"

"You didn't know."

"I'm such a bitch…"

"Rebecca! It's ok. Relax."

Rebecca was silent after that, thinking.

"You can call me 'Becca', you know. 'Rebecca' sounds really weird coming from you."

Mimi couldn't help but smile at that. The only people she knew of that called her "Becca" were her family and Mark-who was practically family.

"Thanks."

"Wow. You're way overly-happy at being able to call me that." They laughed openly at that, glad to have broken the tension. "So.. How about your first kiss? _Real_ kiss."

"Oh, I haven't thought of that in years…"

"Is this a good story? Because Marie's was boring." Mimi laughed.

"You'll probably think I'm such a slut after I tell you, though."

"I won't think you're a slut. You've never been to my high school, apparently. Believe me, I know sluts." Mimi laughed again.

"Ok. I was fourteen, I think. It was end of my Freshman year, anyway. I was a total idiot back then. Drinking, drugs, the whole party thing. Don't ever do drugs and don't drink until it's legal for you…"

"Roger gave me this talk five years ago." Rebecca interrupted. "Some-what hypocritical, really…" she muttered so quietly Mimi wondered if she actually said anything.

"Anyway, I was totally wasted and high and had no idea where the fuck I even was, let alone what I was doing. Next thing I know I'm trying to flirt with this guy who's sitting on the couch that I had, basically, collapsed onto. He looked at me like I had some strange plague or something and before I could even hear is response I passed out."

"Tons of fun," Rebecca commented sarcastically.

"Yeah, I don't know what the hell I was thinking those days, but that was most of what I did. I woke up, like, an hour later to the sound of a car door opening and someone carrying me out. My first thought was to panic, because I was being carried out of somebody's car and into some house."

"Yes, panicking would be a very good decision at that moment."

"Then we were inside and I realized I was at my house."  
"_Your _house? What the hell?"

"I _still_ don't know how the hell that guy knew where I lived, I was just glad that this was someone who decided to take the crazy passed-out girl home instead of some other whack-job.

"So, since I was in my own house I decided that using the little energy I had to freak out on this guy probably wasn't wise, since I would probably just fall over anyway and I just kept my eyes closed and tried to stop the pounding that kept going on in my head. Eventually, the guy managed to locate my bedroom and set me down on my bed, took my shoes off, and tucked me into my bed."

"Awww, I'm not sure whether this story is cute or creepy."

Mimi laughed as she continued.

"Yeah, I haven't decided either. Anyway, that was when I decided to open my eyes, because I wanted to see who the hell was crazy enough to leave a party and drive some random girl home that they didn't know."

"Ooh, was he cute?"

"Yes. I mean, it was six years ago, so I don't remember what he looked like, but I remember he was cute."

"You were also drunk and high."

"No, I was recovering from being drunk and high. Technically, I was hung over. But people look the same when you're hung over and sober, I know this for a fact."

"You're a very well-lived person, do you know that?"

"Yeah, that's not always a good thing."

"Ok, so you saw the guy was cute, then what?"

"While he was fixing the covers to make sure I was comfortable, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to kiss him. I have no idea what the hell sparked me to do that, since I wasn't that kind of girl back then. Now, sure, but then? No way. I avoided guys like the plague. Although, that might've been because they also avoided me."

"That guy didn't."

"No." Mimi smiled slightly at the memory. It had been a very good kiss.

"So, what did the guy do?"

"Kissed me back and then jumped back fifty feet like I had given him an electric shock."

Rebecca burst out laughing, then covered her mouth trying to calm herself.

"Sorry. Not exactly an encouraging response."

"Yeah. In his defense, though, he probably wasn't expecting the semi-conscious girl he was putting to bed to leap up and kiss him."

Rebecca laughed again.  
"Oh, God, I wish I could've seen the look on his face! That would be so priceless!"

Mimi laughed with her.

"Yeah, he left after that. I guess I wasn't a very good kisser back then…"

Rebecca gave her a sympathetic look, while trying to hide her laughing/

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok. It makes for an interesting story."

"Does Roger know about that?"

"No! And don't you dare tell him!"

"Why not?"

"Because knowing him he would get all pissed off at that guy for 'taking advantage of me' and threaten to hunt hum down and rip his limbs off."

"He probably would, but it doesn't sound to me like _that guy _was the one taking advantage."

Mimi giggled.  
"That doesn't change how Roger's going to see it. Ok, your turn to tell a story."

"About…?"

"Well, let's start with this Danny guy…"

Rebecca reddened slightly and looked down.  
"What about him?"

"I have no idea who he is, so explain."

"He was my best friend growing up. It used to drive Mom and Dad crazy. He moved in down the street when I was five and Marie immediately set me up on a play date with him-it was the first time someone even close to my age had moved in on the block. Most of the people were either old or had kids around Roger's age. We hung out _all_ the time, then, after Roger moved out, we began to hang out even more. Then, eventually, we started dating."

"Awww, the 'best friends turned lovers' story-I'm always a sucker for that one. So, how far have you gone?"

Rebecca gaped at her.

"I told you about my first kiss! And you already know how far our brother and I are going, so…"

"True. Stupid logic…" Mimi smiled and gestured for her to continue. "We got to second base."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Roger would kill him."

"Which is why nothing we say in this room leaves this room, right?"

"Yeah… So… Was it on top of the shirt or under?"

Rebecca got even redder.

"Man, you cover _everything_, don't you?"

"I didn't have a normal childhood! I am currently living through you! So, spill!"

"Under."

"Did he go inside your bra?"

"Well, I wasn't wearing a bra, so…."

Mimi let out a squeal and then burst out laughing.

"You are so immature. It's just more comfortable to sleep without a bra on. You're a girl you should know this."

"You spent the night at his house?" she exclaimed.

"I do it all the time."

"Really?'

"Yeah."

"And how do your parents feel about this?"  
"They would kill me if they found out, so they're not going to find out, ok?"

"Ok. Does Roger know?"

"Yeah. I always have. Ever since we were little. If I had a bad day or something and Roger wasn't around I ran over to Danny's house. It was always no big deal, just like if two girlfriends were sleeping over each other's houses. Although, Roger's probably re-thinking some of those nights now, since he found out we're dating."

"Ooh, you're probably right. Good thing Danny doesn't live here anymore or Roger would kill him."

Rebecca sighed and stared at the window for a long moment.

"You really miss him, huh?" Mimi finally asked.

"Yeah. It's bad enough that Roger had to leave. But then Danny's dad got transferred to New York City and they had to move. I hate my parents."

"That stuff happens. It sucks, but it still does."

"No. It doesn't 'just happen'. It happens because my parents don't like their daughter hanging around the little black kid down the street no matter how high his parents' status is, so they get him transferred in his job so that the kid has to move away."

"Your parents did that?" Mimi was shocked. Roger's parents didn't seem like the nicest of people, but they didn't seem like they would go to such lengths to break their daughter and her boyfriend up.

"Yep. They don't know I know, but I'm certain they did it. One of my dad's best friends owns the company Danny's dad works for and I heard my dad talking on the phone with him about it. I hate my parents."

"Well, you can still visit, right?"

"Yeah, rarely, though. My parents would never let me go into New York City alone."

Mimi threw her arms out exaggeratedly and Rebecca laughed.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to call Roger up and say "Hey, can I come stay at your place for a few days so I can visit my boyfriend?"

"Why not? We'd have done it. And if he said 'no' I'd have made him change his mind."

"Well, first of all, things weren't so good between Roger and me for the past couple of years, so that would've been a bad idea. And second of all, I didn't know how cool you were, I was afraid you might end up being like that last girl. "

A dark look crossed Rebecca's face for a moment and Mimi was about to ask her what she meant about things not being so good between her and Roger when she blurted out "Did you know April?"

Mimi froze, not expecting that question and not sure how to respond. She had never known April personally, but she wasn't sure this conversation could be headed in the right direction. She answered anyway.

"No. I never met her. I've heard stories, though."

Rebecca was quiet again.

"I hate her."

Mimi just stared at Rebecca.

"How can you hate her? You barely knew her…" Mimi wasn't sure how to defend April against Rebecca's insult, or why. Despite never knowing her, Mimi wasn't too fond of April, either. Not really April so much as the choices she made in life. Mimi had made almost the exact same ones but, in the end, April had taken the coward's way out and just killed herself, leaving Roger alone and broken. No matter how unjustified the dislike, Mimi couldn't not dislike someone who did that to someone she loved.

"I knew her enough. Last time Roger came to visit he brought her with him. And I hated her. She was such a bitch. I was so excited for Roger's visit, I hadn't seen him in over a year, and then all of a sudden he tells me that he's bringing his girlfriend along. I was a little worried at first. I wanted Roger to spend time with _me_ when he visited, not his girlfriend who he could see whenever the hell he wanted.

"Then they came and she talked down to me the entire time and always made fun of everything I did and would the break down into a fit of unstoppable giggle that made her look mentally retarded. I had no idea at the time that she was just stoned out of her mind the entire visit, but that doesn't mean that I hate her any less.

"She fought with everybody, even Marie. And Marie didn't fight back. And Roger took her side in everything. He yelled at me to stop arguing with her when she declared that my hair color couldn't possibly be my normal hair color, despite that fact that he had been looking at me since I was born. I couldn't stand to be in the house anymore, I spent every night at Danny's. I doubt Roger even noticed I was missing…

"I talked about it every night with Danny and he kept telling me that I should talk to Roger about it. Finally, after four days of non-stop shouting and shutting me out I walked into Roger's room to talk to him and saw him and his girlfriend shooting up."

Mimi looked at Rebecca, shocked. She couldn't believe Roger would actually shoot up in his parents' house while visiting. Then again, she probably would've done the same thing. She instantly felt bad for Rebecca, though. She loved her brother so much and to have to see him like that must have killed her.

"I was so pissed. After everything he always told me, he was in his old bedroom shooting up with the girlfriend from hell. April started shouting at me, of course. Pretty soon we were both screaming at each other and Roger was just sitting there, staring at the wall. Then April threw something at me and I started bleeding." She looked on the verge of tears now. "And Roger didn't even care. He just sat there staring at the fucking wall while his girlfriend tried to kill me. So I ran down the hall to Marie, so she could bandage me up or drive me to the hospital or whatever I needed and I was so pissed off that when she asked me what happened I just told her the truth." She was silent as tears started falling down her cheeks.

"And then all hell broke loose. Marie yelled at Roger and April yelled back and then Marie told my parents and they yelled at him and he yelled at them. They all screamed at each other for over an hour while I sat at the top of the stairs, wishing I had just not been so angry and hadn't said anything.  
"Finally, Roger decided that he and April were going to leave and when he got to where I was sitting he just glared and started yelling at me. He said 'Why the fuck did you do that? Why do you always have to ruin everything? It's bad enough I have to spend most of my fucking life taking care of you, now when I finally get rid of you, you have to fuck everything up all over again!' I locked myself in my room and didn't bother coming out to say goodbye."

There was another long silence after that.

"You guys made up, clearly, so… That's good…" Mimi tried to lighten the situation. As much as she wanted to believe Roger wouldn't say that to someone, she knew how bad his temper got and how much drugs messed you up normally.

"Yeah… But things just kept getting worse after that. He wouldn't' write to me at all. I even resorted to calling a few times, but I always either got the answering machine or Mark taking a message…

"Then, a few months after Roger's last visit Mark wrote me. He said that April had killed herself and Roger had HIV and Mark and everybody were trying to send Roger to rehab, but they didn't have the money for it and they wanted me to ask my parents."

Mimi was shocked by that. She didn't remember hearing about this.  
"Your parents paid for his rehab?"

"Yeah. I had to beg them for, like, a week to get them to even listen to me. Don't tell Roger, though, he doesn't know. That's how desperate Mark was, though, he had to write to me to ask my parents. He probably suggested it to Roger, but Roger would never ask my parents for help with anything… Everything got so fucked up so quickly and it was all that stupid bitch's fault. It's bad enough she had to steal my brother while he was visiting, but did she have to take away any possibilities of him visiting in the future, too? This might be the last time I ever even get to see him aside from his funeral…"

"It's not all April's fault, Becca. A lot of it was just Roger making stupid choices."

"Well, it doesn't really matter whose fault it is, either way he's going to die and I'm going to officially be the loneliest girl on the planet."

"I doubt that. You'll still have Danny and Marie. And I'm sure you'll make more friends in your life when you get out of this place. And, at least you still have him now. You guys look like you get along pretty well. I never would've guessed you guys had a huge fight two years ago."

"Yeah, he started writing me again in rehab. The first letter he wrote me was, like, ten pages long of him apologizing. I had, actually, fully intended to hold a grudge against him and spend the rest of my life hating him, but the thought of him dropping dead the next day made me rethink that…"

More silence and then Rebecca was smiling.

"And then Christmas came. Or, rather, almost New Year's by the time the actual letter got to me. At first, I thought he was high again. His letter was so damn happy, it was a bizarre change to go from nothing but depressing letters that didn't even pick up a little bit and then suddenly this overly cheerful letter going on about his Christmas Eve and this awesome girl who lives on the apartment below him." Mimi started laughing.

"He did not call me that."

"No, he used a bunch of other words, but that one pretty much sums them all up."

They laughed together at that.

"Thanks, Mimi."

"For what?"

"For bringing my brother back. I know you didn't mean to and you're going to try and write it off as you doing nothing, but that doesn't change the fact that you're probably the best thing to happen in his life since Nana got him his first guitar."

Mimi smiled brightly at how highly Rebecca thought of her.

"Well, if I'm that good, then I'm more like the best thing that happened to his life since he got his baby sister." Rebecca looked, down blushing. "I mean it. You aren't around him back at home. He absolutely adores you. Whenever stories about 'back home' come up they almost _always_ include you and he always so happy about them."

"He didn't complain about having to spend most of his life taking care of me?"

"No. Not at all. He loved it. He said you were the best thing to ever come out of his messed up family."

Rebecca smiled and returned to staring out the window, which Mimi noticed she tended to do when she was thinking.

"Wow…" she suddenly said, "We have been talking for three hours… Tomorrow is going to be _hell _getting up."

"Ugh. It is. I take comfort in knowing that Roger will be worse, since he'll be hung over."  
Rebecca laughed.

"Awesome. Time to break out the frying pans and whistles. And, way aren't you drunk right now?"  
"I can't drink alcohol."

A flash of intuition shot across Rebecca's eyes.  
"Really? Why not?"  
"I just… Didn't feel like it…" Mimi stammered, trying to recover.

"No, no. You didn't say that you _didn't_ drink alcohol, you just said that you _can't_ drink alcohol. Why can't you drink alcohol?"

The way Rebecca was questioning her, you would think she was a police officer trying to find out where the stolen diamonds were.

"If you tell Roger that It old you this, I will skin you alive." Rebecca nodded her head excitedly. "I'm pregnant."

Rebecca squealed. Loudly.

"I knew it! Why the hell didn't you guys tell me?"

"Shh. You're going to wake the entire house. I don't know. Roger just said we should wait until the right moment to tell you guys."

"No, you wait until the 'right time' to tell my parents, which, by the way, is never. It is always a good time to tell me this. I'm going to be an aunt!" She paused and thought for a moment. "Again! This time I know it's coming!"

Mimi laughed. Like I said, you tell him, you die.

"I won't say a word."  
"Ok. Thanks."  
Mimi got up and walked over to the door, Rebecca following close behind.

"Oh, my God, you're worse than Roger."

"I just want to make sure you don't fall or anything."  
"Yes. Fall over the treacherous carpet. Thank you so much, Becca."

"No problem."

Mimi laughed and leaned over to hug her.  
"Good-night. Thanks for the talk. I've never had 'girl talk' before."

"No problem. Same for you. Good-night."

Mimi left and walked back to her and Roger's room. Roger was still passed out in the exact position she had left him. She laughed and crawled into bed next to him, glad to have such a great future sister-in-law.

* * *

_This will be the last time I update for about a week and a half, because my dad is taking my brothers and me to Tennessee tomorrow for a week. But, you guys can forgive me since this chapter was so long, right? is hopeful :)  
_


	8. Going Home

_I finally updated! I am so, SO sorry about the long wait. First there was the week in Tennessee, then I had random things going on for a while. Plus my fellow fanfic-writer friend Kim has somehow gotten me into writing a fanfic story with her. Which is not bad, writing with her is a blast, but she convinced me to write a Twilight story. I swore off ever, ever, EVER writing Twilight fanfiction, that fandom is just scary. O.O But, it's actually a lot of fun, and I like it. We're also ignoring pretty much every "rule" of the fandom and not caring about things being accurate and canon and all that jazz, so it's not as serious writing. :p Also, this is a HUGE chapter and I wanted it to be perfect, so I was totally OCD about it kept writing things and then re-writing them and then re-re-writing them. Hopefully this is as good as I could possibly make it. :) It sure is long. It might even be a little longer than the last chapter...  
_

_Thanx to Seph, again._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Roger groaned and rolled over in bed, his head pounding.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Mimi commented, propping herself up on her elbow and watching him attempt to drag himself out of bed. Roger opened his eyes slowly and peered and Mimi.

"And the blinds are wide open because…?"

Mimi laughed.

"I like watching you suffer."

Roger mumbled something incoherent and rolled over, attempting to block the sunlight out with the covers.

"You're the one who drank last night. Remind me to never visit your old school buddies again while I'm pregnant. I should at least wait until the baby's out so I can get hammered with you. You drunk while I'm sober is no fun at all," she whined half-jokingly.

That got Roger's attention. He rolled over with an odd look on his face like he was trying to remember something. Then he smacked himself on the forehead and fell back onto his pillow.

"Shit! I'm sorry, Mimi! I totally forgot about that…"

"It's ok. I didn't. So we're good."

"No, we're not. I shouldn't have done that. I'm so sorry…"

"Roger, it's ok. I was joking. Besides, I had a fun night, anyway."

"You did?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes."

"Doing…?"

"Going clubbing and picking up random guys."

"Uh-huh… And you were really doing…?"

Mimi laughed.

"I spent most of the night talking with your sister."

Roger's eyes doubled in size.

"Oh, shit. About what?"

"World domination."

"Damn. That's exactly what I was afraid of. Now we're all doomed…"

Mimi laughed again.

"Yep. You'd better start planning for Armageddon now."

Roger laughed with her and then quieted as he thought.  
"What did you talk about?"

"I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you."

"Oh. She pulled the 'what is said in this room never leaves,' thing, didn't she?"

"Actually, I did and she agreed."

"So, I'll get nothing out of her, too, huh?"

"Nope. Nothing."

"Damn… Oh, well. Better get up before Marie sends her back in here again. Yesterday didn't go too well. Ow." He stood up and then sat back down again, holding his head. Mimi rolled her eyes.

"Should I meet you downstairs?"

"No, I'm coming."

It was another ten minutes before Roger and Mimi made it downstairs and into the kitchen. Once again, Rebecca and Nathan were almost done with their breakfasts.

"Finally," Marie said from the stove, "You two have got to start waking up earlier. One of these mornings I'm just not going to have any food left over."

"I'll just make Roger make me something," Mimi commented, grinning at him and he had to stifle a laugh.

"That would be pretty cruel, Mimi-making you eat my food instead of Marie's." He shuddered and Mimi joined him as he laughed.

Marie set two plates down on the table and Mimi began eating without thought. Half-way through a piece of toast, however, she noticed something. Roger's plate had bacon, hers didn't; Mimi had an arrangement of fruits on her plate, Roger didn't; and Mimi had much more toast on her plate than Roger did. She was about to ask about the differences when Rebecca spoke up suddenly.

"So, what are you guys doing today?" she asked. There was an undertone to it and Roger suspected that she was attempting to lead their conversation with this. Where to, he had no idea.

"Uh… I don't know, really."

"Roger, you promised…" Mimi said quietly, as if she didn't really want Roger to hear what she was saying. Rebecca gave them both an inquiring look and Roger thought about what Mimi had said, before comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh! Oh, I forgot about that. Ok, we'll go after breakfast."

Mimi smiled unsurely and Rebecca still looked confused.

"We're going to visit Mimi's mom," Roger explained, "Or, at least, we're going to drive by Mimi's old house and see if her mom still lives there."

Mimi felt a slight stab of panic go through her. What if her mom didn't live there anymore? What if she had moved? Or, worse, what if she had died, and Mimi never got a chance to apologize for hurting her?

"Is Nathan going with you guys?" Rebecca asked casually, and Roger realized that this was where she had been leading the conversation.

"That probably wouldn't be a good idea the first time," he explained and Mimi felt another thrill go through her as she realized that, if her mother still lived there, Roger planned to visit her more than once during this trip. It was a slightly comforting thought.

"Can I watch him?" Rebecca responded eagerly, jolting Mimi away from her thoughts.

"Why?" Mimi asked, shocked and Rebecca shrugged.

"I like him. He's fun to play with."

"Becca, if you're watching him you're going to do more than just 'play with him'," Roger explained, looking slightly nervous at the thought.

"Roger, I'm sixteen. I think I can handle looking after my nephew."

Roger exchanged a look with Mimi and she nodded, as if to say "What's the worst that could happen?" Roger sighed.

"Ok. But you had better listen to everything we say before we leave."

"Ok." She nodded excitedly.

Roger and Mimi spent the rest of breakfast-and then another half hour- explaining to Rebecca what to do and how to take care of Nathan. You would think they were leaving him with her for months the way they acted.

"Guys!" she finally exclaimed, "Jeez, you are going way over-board on this thing."

"We just want to make sure that you're prepared…" Mimi started.

"Marie's right there." Rebecca gestured over to where Marie was washing the dishes. "If I run into any trouble I'm sure she can help me."

Roger and Mimi thought that over, still worried about leaving a teenager in charge of Nathan. But, it was Rebecca, and Roger knew that, even though she could be way out-there sometimes, she was very responsible.

"Ok, then. We'll be back in a few hours."

Marie was letting them borrow her car so they didn't have to walk everywhere. Mimi got into the passenger's seat nervously and gave Roger the direction to her old house. Then she sat back and tried to keep the butterflies from flying out of her mouth.

* * *

Mimi stared at the door in front of her, motionless. She and Roger had found her old house, it looked just as she always remembered it did-straight down to the flowers in the front yard's garden. Mimi was currently attempting to gather enough courage to knock on the door, but she couldn't do it. She wasn't sure what would be worse-her mother being there and getting angry at her or her mother not being there at all. Mimi wasn't sure what they would do if they found out she had moved.

"Um… Ready when you are, Mimi," Roger said, trying to lighten the mood. They had been standing on the porch for almost ten minutes. He was afraid that whoever was inside the house would notice them standing there and think they were stalkers or something. Unexpectedly, Mimi turned around to walk back to the car they had parked across the street.

"I can't do this… I can't… it was a total mistake to come here and I cannot face her… If she's even there…"

Roger ran after and cut her off half-way down the walkway that lead to the door. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face the house again.

"Mimi, you haven't seen your mother in five years. You may never get another chance like this and I know that you'll regret it as soon as we get back to my house, so I am not letting you chicken out."

He steered her back up to the door and she froze again, staring at the door like it was a reared cobra about to strike. Roger sighed and reached forward, ringing the doorbell.

"Roger!" Mimi squealed, and she turned to leave the porch. Roger caught her, again, before she had even left the porch, and turned her so she faced the door. He kept his hands lightly on her shoulders to stop her from moving and felt her twitch a few times before the door finally opened. A Latina woman in her mid-forties stood in the doorway. She stared at Roger and Mimi in silence.

"Can I help you?" she finally asked in a slightly accented voice. Mimi froze up, unable to say anything. All she could do was stare. Finally, she found her voice and spoke up shakily.

"Mami, it's me. I came back."

The woman froze, just staring at Mimi, as if trying to comprehend what was going on. Then she broke down crying and pulled Mimi into a hug, muttering quickly in Spanish that Roger couldn't understand. **(A/N: I don't feel like explaining what she said, aka coming up with some stuff for her to say, so I'll just be vague about that…. :p) **She ushered her inside and Roger slipped in behind them silently, not wanting to interrupt their reunion. She finally let go of Mimi and stood back to look her.

"Dios mio, querida, you are still so thin. Do you not eat?"

Mimi laughed shakily.

"I try, but you know me. Food never sticks."

"Yeah, and I'm sure the non-stop movement was no factor," Roger joked, speaking for the first time and gaining the attention of Mimi's mother.

"And who is this?" she asked, looking him over more scrutinizingly than she had her daughter.

"Mami, this is Roger, my fiancé."

Her eyes widened at the mention of "fiancé".

"'Fiancé'?" she asked, looking dazed. Mimi couldn't respond except to nod. "Oh, Lucia, my little hija, you're getting married. I can't believe it." She dropped her voice slightly. "Don't you think you're a little young."

"Mami!" Mimi exclaimed and she laughed.

"All right, I get it. Why don't you two go sit in the back room and I'll get you some lemonade."

"Ok." Mimi took Roger's hand and lead him through the dining room-kitchen area and into the back room, where they sat on one of the couches. The two remained silent as Mimi looked around the room. Everything looked almost the same, and yet different at the same time. It looked… cleaner, better somehow. Like everything that had been wrong with it before had been fixed and new things added to make it look nicer. The walls were still the same color, though, the couches the same, and the carpet still had the same intricate design Mimi used to trace with her fingers as she lay on it when she was bored.

"I can't believe I'm back here…" Mimi mused. She turned to Roger and smiled at him, squeezing his hand a little tighter, "Thanks for coming with me. I never would've been able to do this on my own."

"No problem, Mimi. You know I'd do anything for you." He gave her a light kiss on the cheek just as her mom came back with glasses of lemonade. She set them down on the coffee table in front of the couches before sitting on the other couch.

They sat in an almost awkward silence for a few moments as Mimi tried to think of something to say. She still wasn't sure what she would say once her mom inevitably asked her why she had run away. Hopefully she wouldn't have to worry about that for a while, though.

"So, Lucia, are you still dancing? I know how much you always enjoyed that."

"Um… No… I sort of can't right now…" She trailed off, not sure what to say. Great. The first thing she would tell her mother after not seeing her for five years would be that she's pregnant. What a way to start off a reunion.

"You can't dance?" She looked confused by this and tried to discreetly glance around the coffee table to see if Mimi had any broken or injured limbs she hadn't noticed when she first walked in. She looked fine. "Why is that?"

Mimi glanced at Roger, who gave her a look saying "Go on, tell her." Mimi took a deep breath and fiddled with her hands a bit before finally looking at her mom.

"Mami… I'm pregnant…"

She froze and looked like she had been hit with a frying pan.

"Oh, querida…" She pulled Mimi into a hug and went off in fast Spanish again that Roger couldn't understand, but sounded positive and happy. When she finally released Mimi the two were smiling, so he figured she must approve.

"Querida, when are you due?" she asked, leaning forward slightly to lay her hand over Mimi's small stomach.

"November seventh, according to the doctor. Lord knows babies hardly ever stick to their original due dates, though." They both laughed at her reference to the story her mother often told about how Mimi was just "too impatient" to wait the extra five weeks to be born.

"So, Roger, what do you do for a living?"

"Uh… I bartend during the day and then during the evenings I practice with my band." He felt slightly awkward at this. He knew most parents' views on their daughters about to marry a guy who has pretty much no career and is in a band. And it's usually not positive. So he was surprised when she smiled.

"That's wonderful. Following your dream, I see. That's very good. Lucia's father always told her to follow her dreams when she was younger and I tried my best to keep that up after he was gone. That's why I let her continue so religiously with those dance classes. No matter how much time and money it took up. It was always her dream to be a dancer." She smiled proudly at her daughter, who ducked her head slightly, embarrassed.

There was another short silence where Mimi's mother seemed to think hard about something.

"So…What have you been up to these past several years?" she finally asked. Mimi grimaced on the inside, she had been hoping her mother would avoid any questions like this, no matter how unavoidable they were. At least it wasn't "Why did you run away?" Although, she knew that one was coming too.

"Just… Some stuff… You know… Findings jobs… and places to live and stuff… I had a few boyfriends, though they mostly sucked, except for Roger…" She looked over at him and he smiled slightly, squeezing her hand in reassurance. "I also made some friends… you know, just usual stuff." She left out all of the unusual stuff that would give her mother a heart attack, like the drugs and the HIV. "What about you?"

"Me? Oh, nothing special. I mostly just continued with work and looking after the house and the boys. Jose's uncle died three years ago."

"Really?" Mimi wasn't even aware Jose had had an uncle. Or any relations outside of Tony.

"Yes. He had no children, so he left all of his money and belonging to Jose, which turned out to be worth quite a lot. As you can see, I was able to quit my job now and spend more time at home."

So _that_ explained why everything looked nicer. And cleaner. Her mother had more time to do housework.

"That's great. I'll bet it's helped you guys a lot." A lot more than Mimi ever had.

"Yes, but it does get lonely being around the house all day with no one else around." The guilt Mimi always felt about abandoning her mother was beginning to come back with a vengeance. Her mother smiled for a moment before slipping into deep thought again.

"Lucia…" she finally spoke in a serious, almost heart broken tone, "Why did you leave?'

Mimi froze, not sure what to say. She decided a loose variation of the truth would be best.

"I… I just couldn't take living here anymore…"

"You didn't like living here? But… Why? What did we do wrong? Was it because I wasn't around enough or-"

"No! No, Mami, it wasn't anything you did. You were the only reason I stuck around here as long as I did. I just…" She couldn't find the right words and stammered for a few seconds, trying to come up with something.

"Was it the drugs?" her mother finally asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. Mimi froze again and just stared at her. Her mother had known about that?

"How.. How did you know about that?"

"A couple of weeks after you left, I was cleaning your room. I figured it would be best if I had it all cleaned up for when you came back." Mimi winced slightly at that. Her mother thought that she would be coming back. She wondered how long her mom had lived in denial, thinking that Mimi would be coming home soon, she was jut taking some time for herself or some other deluded excuse. "And I was changing the sheet on your bed when I found it under the mattress… Lucia, if you were in trouble why didn't you come to me? I would've helped you."

"And how would Jose have acted?" She hadn't meant for her tone to sound so bitter.

"He would've helped, as well."

"No, he wouldn't have." Mimi knew that she should take a moment to calm herself down, but she couldn't help it. All the anger and resentment and bitterness she had felt during her teen years was starting to explode out of her.

"Lucia-"

"What did he say when you told him?"

Her mother looked down ashamedly and Mimi knew that he had reacted exactly as she thought he would've-as negatively as possible and insultingly towards Mimi. She wondered how long he had bitched about her and what a "waste of space" she was.

"He was just angry when I first told him. You were endangering yourself and he was worried about you-"

"Worried about me?" Mimi jumped up, Roger grabbed onto her arm and tried to get her to sit and calm down, but she shook him off and continued to yell. "Worried about me?! You think that selfish bastard gives a damn about anything that happens to me?!"

"Lucia Paloma, you watch your mouth! What has gotten into you? He is your step-father and you should show him some respect."

"Oh, yes, let's respect Jose, the perfect example of a model step-father! He made my life a living hell, and you expect me to _respect_ him?!"

"He took care of us, Lucia. He kept us from being sent back to Mexico and from having to live in some homeless shelter for the rest of our lives. How can you say such a thing?"

"Mami, we could have made it perfectly fine on our own! We didn't need him! We never needed him! It was just fine when it was just the two of us!"

"It was not 'just fine', Lucia. We were on the verge of living in the streets. You think I wanted my little girl trying to survive out there? I did what I could to make a better life for us."

"A _better_ life? Being always looked at as a lesser being everywhere I went, being teased and taunted at school, and being turned into some slave at home was a _better_ _life_? A better life would've been for us to just get our own apartment somewhere and try to make it ourselves!"

"That would have never worked…"

"_I _made it work, Mami! _I _did after I ran away! If I could do it, why couldn't you have? It was hard, but it was better than trying to call some place 'home' where you get beaten so badly you can barely walk and you're so scared of your step-father coming into your room again you can't even fall asleep at night! And when the only person that you actually care about and cares about you is hardly ever even around! Anything, _anything_ is better than that! Leaving on the streets! Drug addictions! Abusive boyfriends! Even dying of HIV! It's all better than having to deal with _that_."

By this point she had tears streaming down her face and Roger had stood up and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from collapsing or bolting out the door. Her mother had frozen, staring straight ahead, not really seeing anything as she took in what her daughter had said. Before she had a chance to react, though, Mimi had squirmed out of Roger's grasp and took off for the door.

"I just have to go the bathroom, Roger, please just leave me alone," she sobbed when he caught her at the doorway. He let go of her arm and let her walk away, staring fixedly after her. He heard her mother sob behind him and he turned, wondering what he should do.

"Was that true?" she finally choked out, "Was everything she just said true? Did Jose really do that to her?"

"As far as I know, he did. And Mimi doesn't lie." Roger walked back over to the couch and sat down, deciding he might as well try to comfort her. His words, however, didn't help and just caused her to break down sobbing again. She started muttering to herself. Half the words were in Spanish, but Roger caught on that she was going on about being bad a mother and failing her daughter.

"None of it was your fault," he finally spoke up, unable to take her self-patronizing manner anymore.

"She must hate me."  
"She doesn't. She loves you. You were the best part of her life here. She always felt horrible for leaving, for just abandoning you here. She was so excited to come see you again, she really missed you."

"I practically pushed her out the door."

"No, you didn't. You did nothing wrong. It was all his fault. He had no right to treat her the way he did and you should not be blaming yourself for what he did to her." Roger had to break off there, unable to finish without letting out a long string of profanities about Mimi's step-father.

They sat in silence for a while before Roger decided to go check on Mimi. He excused himself and left the room, while Mimi's mother stared at the coffee table, not seeming to notice anything about her surroundings.

* * *

Mimi walked the familiar path from the back room, through the kitchen and the living room, and headed towards the bathroom. She was just about to push the door open when a door to her right caught her eye. It was a shabby door, covered in dance posters and kitty stickers and had a sign that said "Mimi's Room". She turned and slowly opened the door, slipping inside.

It looked exactly the same as when she left it, except a little tidier. There was her vanity on wall by the door, with all her figurines lined up and her little jewelry box with the standard ballerina on top. She opened her dresser drawers and found the exact clothes that she had left behind, folded neatly in their proper spots now-not thrown in there as she had done. She walked along every wall, looking at all the posters and pictures she had taped to her wall. There were a few blank areas on her shelves where she had grabbed something to throw into her bag before running out the door.

She turned around and she was facing her bed. It was very small, but still had managed to hold Mimi and all of the fifty thousand stuffed animals she had arrange on the bed. She knew it must've seemed childish for a fifteen-year-old to have stuffed animals, but these were different-they were Mimi's best friends during her childhood. Her mother must've taken careful note of how they had been arranged, to put them back in exactly the same order after changing her sheets. Mimi spread her arms out and fall back onto the bed, laying down and shutting her eyes. She thought back to all the nights she had spent lying on this bed, surrounded by her stuffed animals, trying to take comfort in their presence. It was nothing like the comfort she got laying next to Roger, but she still found herself comparing the two situations. She felt the bed dip down slightly near her and she bolted up.

"Sorry," Roger muttered, sitting next to her, "I didn't want to disturb you, I thought you might've fallen asleep."

Mimi scooted across the bed and leaned against him. He wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled against his side, feeling perfectly safe for the first time in her bedroom.

"Does my mom totally hate me?" she finally asked.

"Why do you two keep thinking the other hates her? You are mother and daughter, you love each other. Just because you have a total dick for a step-father doesn't change that."

Mimi laughed slightly and looked up at him.  
"How do you always know the right thing to say to make me feel better?"  
"Because I'm just perfect like that."

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him. Roger put his arm on the small of Mimi's back and lowered her down onto the bed, deepening the kiss. They went on like this for a few minutes before he broke away, Mimi letting out a slight whimper as she attempted to start the kissing again.

"Uh, Mimi, we're at your mother's house, remember? This is, like, at the top of the list of what _not_ to do here."

"But, we had sex at _your_ parents' house."

Yes, but we are staying there. It's like having sex in a hotel. It doesn't count." Mimi rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on Roger's neck as he pulled up, bringing her to a sitting position. "No, let's go back out there before your mom decides that we have skipped out on her."

"Ok, one sec, I have to go to the bathroom." Roger raised his eyebrow at her.

"I'm serious this time. This pregnancy thing is making me have to pee, like, every twenty minutes, you know that."

He laughed and unwrapped his arms from her back.  
"All right, but don't be too long, or I'll suspect that you've slipped out the window."

* * *

When Roger re-entered the back room, he saw Mimi's mother looking at a scrap book. And Roger now knew where Mimi got that from. He always assumed it was something she had picked up from Angel.

"She never was very happy," her mother spoke, as he entered. Roger jumped slightly. He hadn't even thought she would notice he was there. "I always just assumed it was because of what happened with her brother and then with her father, but she just kept getting worse and worse. I never even really noticed. And when I did I just wrote it off as her trying to adjust. I was so stupid… And now, look what's happened. She had to run away from her own home, live on the streets, and she could die next year… I shouldn't even be able to call myself a mother."

"You did nothing wrong," Roger assured her, taking another stab at comforting her, "You're the reason she's still a decent human being. More than decent, she's the most amazing person I've ever met. And if I ever tried to point this out to her she would always say something like 'My Mami always taught me…' or 'I wouldn't be her daughter if I didn't do that.' She really loves you and she doesn't blame you at all."

"Thank you. You're a great boy, I'm glad my Lucia has you."

She returned to looking at the book and Roger glanced over her shoulder at the pictures of the younger Mimi. She had been an adorable child. Roger found himself wondering if that might be what their child would look like, assuming it was a girl. They were through one of Mimi's eighth year when she came back into the room.

"Sorry about that. I shouldn't have over-reacted that way, I'm really sorry."

Her mother jumped up and enveloped her in a hug speaking in fast Spanish again. Once they released each other, Mimi sat back down on the couch next to Roger and gestured toward the books.

"Mami, please tell me you have _not _been showing my fiancé the horrible pictures of me as a terrifying child."

"I think you were adorable," Roger said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him.

"Yeah adorably ugly."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"So? It's still true."  
"No, it's not. You're adorable. And if we have a daughter, I hope she looks just like you." He gave her a light kiss on the top of her head and her mother smiled at the two, happy that, after all the heartache she had to endure in her life, she could finally find some happiness in her life.

* * *

_Aaaaaand, that's the chapter. Too drama-y? I, actually, was going to have her inform her mom about the HIV before the rant about Jose, but I kind of got sick of them discussing everything so calmly, so I had Mimi sort of explode half-way into the convo and just through that in at the end. I originally had also intended for there to be more in this chapter, but it was long enough and I haven't updated in a month, so I'm putting that in the next chapter.  
_


	9. Pudding Sounds Nice

_I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! Well, I didn't find it. The person who took it returned it to me. But all that matters is I GOT MY FLASHDRIVE BACK!! For those of you who haven't visited my Author's Page (Probably most of you, it's quite a boring page.) The reason I haven't updated in the past, like, month was that my flashdrive was stolen from one of my school, computers (I say "stolen" because I know exact;y where I left it and at what time, but when I went back to get it it was nowhere to be found. Also, no one turned it in to the office or the librarians or anybdoy until Monday, about five days after I put fliers up offering a reward for its safe return.) and I was too depressed to write and kep tholding onto that little shred of hope that maybe, just maybe, someone would turn it in. And they did! Hallelujah! dances again (I say again, because I already danced multiple times when I announced its return on my Author's page. :p) And now you guys get this chapter! Yay! Everybody's happy. :)_

_The chapter name is, again, very random. I couldn't think of anything better. :p_

_Remember that Twilight fanfic I informed you guys about? The one my friend has somehow convinced me to co-write with her? It's up now. She keeps bothering me to tell "all my readers about it" because she "wants 300 reviews". Seriously, that's hwo this started. Most Twilight fanfiction is quite horrible (There are, however, some exceptions. Anybody ever read "It's Better When I Bleed for You"?) and she was totally shocked to see a six chapter fanfic that really sucked get 300 reviews. And now we have a Twilight fanfic. Wahoo. If you wish to read it, I have the link on my author's page._

_Thanx, again, to Steph. Especially for putting up with me this last month, as I didn't realize until I was sending this chapter to her last night that I never informed her of my stolen flashdrive._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"Thank you so much for coming to visit, querida, I missed you so much," Paloma **(A/N: I'm pretty sure I didn't mention this, but that's Mimi's mom's name.) **said, hugging her daughter tightly.

"It was great seeing you too, Mami. I was afraid you would hate me after all these years."

Her mother pulled back and gave her a fierce look.

"And why is that? Lucia, you are my daughter and I love you, nothing could ever change that."

Mimi tried to ignore the "I-told-you-so" look on Roger's face, complete with a smug smile, but it was hard. She stuck her tongue out at him when her mother turned to him.

"And it was great meeting you, Roger," she said, leaning in to hug him, "Thank you so much for bringing my daughter back," she whispered low enough so Mimi couldn't hear.

"No problem," he whispered back, "And it was great meeting you too."

He and Paloma let go of each other and he wrapped his arm around Mimi's waist.

"You two must come visit again tomorrow. And bring Nathan with you. I want to meet my future little step-grandson. He sounds wonderful."

"He is, Mami. Well, we'll see you tomorrow."

They turned and left, Mimi working hard to restrain herself from dancing on the sidewalk. Mimi was so happy she couldn't find a way to speak during the car ride home. Roger stayed silent, too, smiling at how happy Mimi was.

"You are the most amazing boyfriend ever, do you know that?" she finally said once they pulled into the driveway of the house.

"Yeah, I've suspected for a while." He smirked at her, but instead of playfully hitting him like he thought she would, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close to her.

"Thank you so, _so_ much, Roger. I _really_ couldn't have done that without you." She sounded like she was going to cry.

"Mimi, you're repeating yourself. And I already told you that I would do anything for you, so now you're making me repeat myself. And why are you crying?"

She let out a choking laugh.

"Sorry, I'm just so happy."

They sat there in silence for several minutes before Roger suggested they get out of the car before Marie thinks they're doing something in the car that they should save for the bedroom.

"Please tell me there isn't a substantial reason for this…" Mimi said cautiously as they climbed out of the car.

"It was one time. And it was my car, so I don't know why Marie is holding it against me."

Mimi was torn between groaning and laughing, so she decided to do neither and just walk into the house. The second they walked in Roger held Mimi back from entering further and looked around suspiciously.

"What?" Mimi asked, looking around and wondering what had caused this sudden change.

"It's very quiet in here…"

"So?"

He looked around again and then took another step into the hallway.

"Roger, what are you…"

"Shh!"

Mimi pressed her lips together and made a great effort to not burst out laughing-Roger looked so ridiculous right now, slinking through the hallway like a spy or something.

"Becca's up to something…" he finally whispered cryptically.

"What are you talking about?" Mimi asked, humoring him enough to keep her voice low.

"Things are _never_ this quiet around here."

Mimi placed a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing and followed him, quietly as possible, down the hall. Roger reached the kitchen and stopped inside the doorway, looking around him.

"What are you looking for…"

"Shh!" He looked around again. "They've got to be here somewhere…"

"Who?"

"Becca and Nathan. And probably Marie…"

Mimi walked over to the window to peer into the backyard, looking to see if they had gone out there to play. See pulled the lacey curtain aside. No one was out there.

"They're not…" she started to say before pandemonium erupted.

After Roger had stepped into the kitchen Rebecca and Nathan had crept up from the back room and sprayed him with silly string. Before he could retaliate to that Marie ran out of the dining room area, spraying him with even more silly string. He finally gave up and just stood still until their spray cans ran out.

"Very funny," he said once they were finished, all laughing hysterically. He started brushing himself off. "I knew you guys were up to something. It's never that quiet around here. Is this stuff going to be stuck on me all day?"

"You're lucky Marie vetoed my first plan-which, I must say, was genius. But she didn't want to clean up the mess." Rebecca rolled her eyes and Marie shot her a look.

"Just because I like helping you kids with your pranks doesn't mean I want to clean up super glue, feathers, and glitter for five hours."

"Do I want to know what that plan was?" Roger asked.

"I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you," Rebecca answered solemnly.

Mimi stood over by the window, her hand over her mouth, trying desperately not to laugh and failing miserably.

"Oh, you just wait until you are the target," Roger warned her, which only made her laugh even harder. Rebecca feigned a look of shock and placed her hand over her heart.

"What?! I would never ambush my future sister-in-law. I liker her too much."

"Gee, I feel special," Roger said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I like you, but you're my brother. I'm allowed to do shit like this to you."

"I'm touched. And don't swear."

"You do all the time."

"Well, don't swear around my son. He's only three."

"And has heard far more swear words living with Collins, I'm sure, than he ever will in one afternoon with me."

"Is there ever a moment where these two don't argue?" Mimi asked Marie.

"Well, there was about a day after Rebecca was born when she didn't know how to talk… Other than that… Nope." They both laughed as Roger and Rebecca glared at them. The looks on each of their faces were so similar Mimi started laughing even harder.

"Ok, I don't even know what prompted that one," Rebecca stated, uncrossing her arms and looking confused.

"It's Mimi, she does that," Roger answered and Mimi composed herself to give him a sort of half-glare that didn't last very long.

They all turned as they heard the door open. Immediately Rebecca and Marie sprang into action, cleaning up the silly string and tossing it into the trash and fixing the kitchen to look perfect.

"What was that…" Mimi started before quieting as she spotted Roger's father standing in the doorway.

"Hanging out in the kitchen with Marie _again, _Rebecca? What have your mother and I told you about this. It's not very sociable."

"It's very sociable with Marie," she mumbled in response. He looked like he was going to respond, but then thought better of it and just sighed. Not a normal sigh, but the kind where you could hear the disappointment.

"You all had better get cleaned up. Your mother will be home soon and we'll be having a family meeting."

Simultaneously, Roger and Rebecca shot each other looks of worry and distaste-these _never_ went well. The last time this had happened (with both siblings in the house) it had been because Rebecca had decided to try driving her parents' car and ran over the mail box. That had been a bad one. Their parents had spent an hour on the verge of yelling at them, but never actually doing it. Their parents preferred cold indifference to get responses out of their children. Roger had felt so bad for Rebecca-she looked hysterical and on the verge of tears-he finally just told them he had done it and took the two month punishment. Now they were both wondering what the hell their parents could possibly have to say to them that would warrant a "family meeting".

"Ok, let's go," Roger finally said to stop things from getting awkward and they all quickly left the room while Marie walked back into the kitchen.

"What the hell do they want now?" Rebecca said once they had gotten to the top of the stairs.

"I don't know…" Roger thought for a moment. "Have you done anything?"

"No!"

"I didn't think so… And we've barely seen them since the first night we got here. Maybe it's not about something bad."

Rebecca put her hands on her hips and raised one eye brow.

"Ok, yeah. Right. I forgot. Mom and Dad. Sorry."

"Come on, you guys," Mimi interjected, "I'm sure you're blowing this way out of proportion. How bad can it be."

The two siblings looked at her with identical shocked looks of horrors on their faces.

"Bad," Rebecca finally answered, "Very bad. Mom and Dad never call a 'Family Meeting' unless they want to punish us for something or make an announcement-all of which suck."

"Not true," Roger disagreed surprisingly.

"Is so. When have they ever announced anything good to us during a family reunion?"

"Well, they've, apparently, never announced anything good to _you_. But when I was seven they announced that Mom was pregnant. News doesn't get much better than that."

"You're so cheesy sometimes…" she mumbled and turned to walk to her room, but Mimi saw the dark red that had started spreading across her face and the slight smile she had.

"Ok, let's get this guy cleaned up so we can go find out what my wonderful parents wish to inform us of," Roger said, picking up the dirt-covered Nathan and walking towards the bathroom.

* * *

"I hope we don't have to have dinner with them again. The last time was horrid," Rebecca grumbled as they made their way downstairs, toward the front room.

"Becca, I'm only in town for the week. I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad are going to attempt to hold up their 'good parent images' for more than just one night."

Rebecca groaned.

"Rebecca, what have I told you about making those noises?" their mother scolded as they entered the room "It is very unbecoming of a young lady."

"We don't live in the 1800's," she grumbled under her breath as she glared at the floor, walking over to sit in the armchair.

"Well, now that you have finally decided to join us," their father commented and Roger rolled his eyes. They had taken twenty minutes and it only took so long because they had a dirty three-year-old. Then again, his parents would know anything about raising a child-they had never done it. "Your mother and I would like to share you some information about our plans tomorrow."

"Who is included in that 'our'?" Rebecca asked sharply. Kenneth ignored her and continued.

"Since Roger has finally decided to visit us again, we have decided to have a family dinner tomorrow."

"We did that two nights ago," Rebecca groaned.

"No, that was just us. This is a _family_ dinner."

There was a short pause as the two siblings worked out what that meant.

"Oh, Jeez!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"You are not having Kayla over, are you?" Roger exclaimed at the same moment.

"Children, you are being very rude. Kayla is your cousin. She is family and she and her husband will be joining us tomorrow for dinner."

"This sucks…." Rebecca grumbled under her breath.

"Now, Marie will be working very hard on dinner for all of us, so I want you to stay out of the kitchen. No bothering her, all right?" He didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "And I want you both to be there. Dinner will be served at six o'clock sharp. Any later and you will not be eating."

"Because it's so for a 16 year-old and a 24 year-old to get food…" Roger muttered and Mimi and Rebecca had to stifle laughs.

"You two are dismissed now. Your mother and I have a dinner to go to," Kenneth said coldly, somehow managing to glare at them without actually glaring. They practically ran out of the room to freedom.

"Ok, what the hell as with all that 'you two' stuff?" Rebecca asked once they got to the safety of their hallway. "I thought there were four of us."

"They're acting like I'm a child again and it's just us," Roger agreed bitterly, "I get that they think I'm an idiot who made stupid choices, but that doesn't mean they can completely ignore Mimi and Nathan. They are humans, after all."

"I didn't mind," Mimi said, "Last time I was acknowledged things didn't go so well."

"Well, I'm going to go call Danny," Rebecca suddenly announced, "See you guys later." And she slipped into her room.

Roger stood there for a moment, thinking. Then something clicked.

"Danny? Her boyfriend? I thought he moved."

"Just because he moved doesn't mean they can't still talk to each other. And I thought he was her best friend and you liked him."

"That was when he was her best friend. Now he's her boyfriend and I inherently hate him."

Mimi rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

* * *

"Well, tomorrow's going to suck," Roger said as they lay in bed later that night.

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as you're thinking it will," Mimi said comfortingly, resting her head on his chest.

"You don't know my cousin. She created the definition for the word 'bitch'."

Mimi laughed.

"But, it's only for a couple of hours. And there are more of us than her, so…"

"Unless you count my parents." And if she brings Brianna. Which, if she does, Roger would end up killing someone. He didn't even know if the two were still friends.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"I wonder if it would be possible to just leave tomorrow discreetly so that they don't notice."

"And abandon Rebecca to the dinner by herself?"

"True, I didn't think of that… We could take her with us."

Mimi laughed.

"Yes, because we have room for a teenager."  
"She doesn't have to live with us. We can drop her off at some group home or something."

"Would you really leave your sister at a group home?"

"No. But it was just an idea."

They lay there in silence for a while, listening to each other's breathing.

"Hey, Roger…"

"Yes?"

"I'm kind of hungry."

"Seriously? You ate, like, five slices of pizza earlier. You must be carrying a boy." He smirked at her and she smiled. Marie hadn't felt like cooking so they just ordered a couple of pizzas and spent the evening sitting in the back room watching movies until past midnight.

"That was hours ago. I'm hungry again."

"Ok, I'll go sneak down to the kitchen and grab you something to eat. What do you want?"

"I'm kind of craving pudding."

"Pudding?"  
"Chocolate pudding. It's a girl." She smiled at him and he laughed as he got off the bed.

"Ok, chocolate pudding. Be right back."

He slipped out the door and Mimi listened to his muffled footsteps until he hit the bottom of the stairs. Then she sighed and stared up at the ceiling. About half an hour later she groaned out loud and smacked herself on the forehead.

"What's wrong?" Roger asked as he re-entered the room, holding a bowl full of pudding. Mimi pushed herself up into a sitting position and took the bowl from him.

"Remember how we promised Marie we would go grocery shopping for her tomorrow for the dinner?"

"Yes."

"We also promised Mami we would visit her again."

"Shit."

"Should we flip a coin?"

"No, Mimi. We promised your mom first. Besides, seeing your mom is way more important than getting a few groceries. Becca could just go get them by herself."

"No, I don't want to abandon her to do that by herself."

"It's not that hard, Mimi."

"Still…"

"We could invite your mom to the dinner…"

"Your parents wouldn't be mad?"

"Who cares? We'll just let Marie know that she has to factor in dinner for one more person."

Mimi thought that over. It would be nice for them all to have dinner together. Even if Roger's parents and cousin would be there. As she thought this over she started to eat the pudding-it was really good.

"Hey, what took you so long?" she asked suddenly.

"We didn't have any pudding, so I had to make some. It's not as good as when Marie makes it, but I followed her recipe as closely as I could."

"You made me pudding? Just because you guys didn't have any?"

"Yes."

"You didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did. You really wanted pudding, we didn't have any. The only way for you to get some, then, would be for me to make some. Or run outside and home I could find a grocery store open at one in the morning."

"Thank you. Taking me to see my mother, inviting her over for dinner, making me pudding… You are really racking up the brownie points today, do you know that?"

Roger laughed.

"Does this mean you'll make brownies when we get home?"

"Maybe. First we have to survive that dinner tomorrow."

"Easier said than done."

* * *

_Whoo! Chapter's done! I'm not entirely sure yet what I wish to do with the next chapter. I had planned to have the day of them all shopping and just sort of chilling together, but now I'm thinking Imight want to jsut skip forward to the dinner... Anybody have any suggestions? I would really appreciate it, as you guys are my readers and I would like to please you. :)_


	10. Dinner Disaster

_*gets down on knees and begs for forgiveness* Did it work? I am SO sorry! I was in my school play and that took up a hell of a lot more time than I originally thought it would (I only had seven lines!) so I had, like, zero time to work on the computer. Than I had some serious writer's block where I knew what I wanted to write, but I had no idea how to get there. So, please forgive me? And Merry Christmas Eve._

_I'm posting this without a beta, so I can get it to you guys as fast as possible, so I apologize in advance for any spelling errors.  
_

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"Mimi, chill, you look fine," Roger said as he watched her fidget with the collar of her blouse for hundredth time.

"I just want to look nice."

Roger walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind as she stared at herself in the mirror.

"You look gorgeous. Besides, my parents have already seen you, why do you care what you look like now?"  
"Because this is a formal dinner with your family and probably my last good chance to make a good impression on them."

"Mimi, the second I described you in a letter to Becca, they disapproved of you. Wearing a nice outfit is not going to change that."

Mimi made a slight "tsk" noise and broke away from Roger's arms so she could put her earrings on. He watched her for a few moments as she fumbled with her earrings-a sure sign she was angry-before sighing and walking back over to her.

"Mimi, I'm sorry, but… Well, it's kind of true. Ask anybody who has ever known my parents; they're just assholes like that.

She smiled slightly and leaned back against his shoulder.

"Yeah, I've kind of noticed that…"  
"Then why do you care so much about what they think?"

"Because they're your parents."

"Mimi, before this week, I hadn't spoken to my parents in, like, two years. Before then, it had been about three. I really don't care what they think, so why should you?"

Mimi just shrugged.

"I'm going to go dress Nathan. I wasn't aware that we were supposed to dress fancy at anything, so I hope he doesn't look too out of place in jeans and a normal shirt."

"Don't dress him in the Arthur t-shirt, that is _way too_ informal! Pick something that's not a t-shirt!" Mimi called after him and he waved to show her he had heard her. He hadn't been gone for more than a minute before there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and Rebecca slipped inside, wearing a dark blue dress and looking pissed and annoyed.

"One of these days I will kill them both," she said darkly.

Mimi couldn't help but laugh.

"Why? What happened this time?"

"First of all…" she grabbed at her shirt and flung her arms out slightly, obviously not too happy with the choice of dress her parents wanted her to wear. "And I was helping Marie in the kitchen and Mom scolded me and told me to go upstairs to 'Change into something more appropriate for a young lady to be wearing.' Hence this stupid dress." She sat on the bed, crossing her legs in what her mother would definitely scold as "un-lady-like".

"I think it's a lovely dress."

"I hate dresses."  
"Well, there are going to be tons of moments where you'll need to wear them, so you're going to have to get used to them…"

Rebecca groaned.

"What's with the groaning?" Roger asked, entering the room carrying Nathan, who was in the best jeans Roger could find and the only color shirt that had been packed-which had a dinosaur on it. "And, is this good enough, Mimi?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she said. "At least it's not a t-shirt and ripped jeans." She muttered to herself as she applied make-up. Roger snickered behind her.

"Becca, what are you wearing?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Guys, please no bickering. I'm freaking out enough without you to going at each other for the dumbest, little things."

"Is she normally like this?" Rebecca fake-whispered to Roger.

"Just when she's nervous," he whispered back. Mimi rolled her eyes.

"So, is your mother coming, Mimi?" Rebecca asked, trying to get Mimi back in a good mood.

"Yes. She said she would be over at 6:00 sharp, which means 5:45. She loves being early."

"Great, we already clash."

She and Roger laughed slightly at that.

"I'm sure she'll love you, Becca," Mimi assured her, finishing up.

"Well, you might want to hurry up since it's 5:45, like, right n-" She didn't finish before the doorbell rang. "Holy shit, you weren't kidding."

"No swearing," Roger and Mimi said simultaneously as they all headed for the door.

* * *

When they reached the bottom of the stairs Marie had already let Paloma in and the two were chatting in the hall as they waited for the others.

"Mami!" Mimi exclaimed immediately and practically threw herself into her mother's arms. What followed was another long string of Spanish between the two that Roger didn't understand. Rebecca shot him a confused look and he half-shrugged/half-shook his head as if to say "Yeah, I don't understand what they're saying, either."

"You all go sit in the living area, dinner's almost ready," Marie said, heading for the kitchen, "And it looks like that cousin of yours is going to be late…" she added over her shoulder. "Again."

Rebecca made valiant effort to keep her groan in , but a small noise still escaped.

"Well, you tried, Becca," Roger complimented her.

"It's not easy, how do you do it?"

"Years and years of going to school with the bitch."

"So, where is this Nathan you told me about?" Paloma said, finally registering others in the room besides her daughter.

"He's the short one," Becca commented and Roger let out a short laugh.

"And this is my sister, Rebecca. Rebecca, this is Mimi's mother, so try to be polite to her."

"No promises." Mimi had to hold back a laugh as Roger attempted to give Rebecca an "I really mean it and I'm serious" look, failing miserably. Eventually they all just ended up laughing.

"What so funny?" Nathan asked after a few seconds, which just made everyone laugh harder.

"It's nothing," Mimi finally said and she reached over to pick him up and set him in her lap. "Mami, this is Nathan, my future step-son. Nathan, this is my mother."

"Pweased to meet you," he said, as usual, holding his hand out. Paloma just stared at him in shock for several seconds before grasping his hand.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you, too. He is so adorable, and so polite."

"Yeah, he's one of a kind," Roger agreed, ruffling the kid's hair. The doorbell rang and Roger and Rebecca both groaned.

"Roger, I'm sure it won't be that bad," Mimi tried to soothe him.

"Oh, no," Rebecca disagreed, "It will be bad." The doorbell rang again. "Well, aren't you going tog et it?" she asked Roger.

"No, you get it. It's your house."

"Yes, but this dinner is for you. Therefore, you should go answer the door."

"I am not-"

"I'll get it!" Mimi exclaimed and she set Nathan on the couch and left the room. She walked down the hall, shaking her head at the childishness of the two siblings and had just reached the door when it rang a third time.

"Finally, we have been standing out here forever, what the hell took you so… Who the hell are you?"

Standing on the porch were two very unpleasant looking blond girls. Mimi gaped at the two, unable to speak. She was certain she had seen the girls somewhere before. And when she had seen them it had been under less-than-happy circumstances.

"That's Mimi," a male's voice behind them said, walking up to the girl who had spoken, "She's Roger's fiancée. Hey, Mimi, you look wonderful this afternoon."

"Hey, Scott, Kayla," Roger said, walking up behind Mimi and wrapping his arms around her waist and shooting a quick, dirty look at his cousin, "I see you brought the other evil one with you. What the hell? I thought this was supposed to be a family dinner." He glared at the other blond girl who smiled haughtily at him.

"What's wrong? Not happy to see you're favorite old high school buddy?" she asked smartly.

"Oh, yes, it's wonderful to see you again, Bri," he responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "Mimi, this is Bri, the devil with blond hair and designer clothes."

"This isn't really your fiancée, is she, Roger?" Kayla asked, looking extra closely at Mimi in a way that made her feel like a dog being surveyed at the pound. "Wow." A dog that was deemed unworthy due to not being pure-bred.

"Children, why did I hear the doorbell ring so many times? What do you have against moving to answer it?"

"Well, Mother, Kayla's finally here. And, look, she brought your favorite person." He turned and lead Mimi back into the living room as his mother began chatting things up with Kayla and Brianna in a much more friendly way than she had

ever spoken with Mimi.

"Wow, how bad is it?" Rebecca asked sympathetically as they re-entered the room, Roger looking thoroughly pissed off.

"Guess who's here."

"Kayla… And Scott…" Roger stared at her, waiting for her to finish. She seemed to take a moment before her eyes got huge. "Oh, shit! No! They did _not_ bring Brianna?! I hate that bitch! She's not even family! What the hell is she doing here?" Nobody even bothered to scold her for swearing.

"Apparently there's a double-standard for people Mom and Dad actually like." Rebecca made a face, which she quickly hid as they heard the others about to enter the room.

**(A/N: Start here.) **"…And you looks so gorgeous, dear. It really has been too long since you've had dinner here," Julia said as she entered the room with the other girls.

"That is open to debate," Rebecca muttered under her breath.

"Rebecca," Julia said, suddenly brisk and Rebecca's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, "Why didn't you come and greet your cousin?" She relaxed slightly once she realized her mother hadn't overheard her comment.

"Because Roger was already answering the door and I didn't want to leave our guest here alone." She gestured toward Paloma. "It seemed rude."

Julia did a double-take at the other woman sitting on her couch.

"And, who is this?"

"This is my mother, Paloma," Mimi said.

"We told you she would be eating with us this morning, Mom," Roger said, trying to defuse his mother's temper before she threw a fit.

"And did you not think of Marie when you invited her?"

"Yes. In fact, we asked her and she said it would be no problem. Unlike Kayla who just shows up out of the blue with her friend. Who, by the way, isn't even a family member. Unlike Paloma who is Mimi's mother. And, since we were having a family dinner, I though it would be nice for us to actually have the whole family here."

Julia looked like she wanted to throw something, but thought better of it.

"Well, it is nice to meet you, Paloma," she finally said and Roger was slightly surprised to hear her attempt to be civil. She failed miserably, but it was nice to see an attempt all the same.

"Dinner's ready!" Marie announced.

"Here we go," Rebecca muttered under her breath as they all filed out toward the dining room. **(A/N: End here. This is what took me over two months to write. I couldn't find a way to transition from that spot up there to the next scene. That's pretty sad, I'm sorry everybody.)**

* * *

"And then there was Don. He was a total freak, though. He was constantly ditching me to go be with his family. I mean, I get that his mom was having a baby and everything, but to leave me in the middle of our date is just horrible," Brianna said, as she played with the food on her plate. So far, she had monopolized the conversation for the entire forty-five minutes they had been eating for. Roger's parents and cousin were way too into everything she was saying, acting as if she were discussing some important political matter. Scott was trying to look politely interested, but it was obvious that his attention kept drifting. Paloma, too, was trying to be polite, but it was hard when she was starting to dislike the woman more and more as time went on. Roger just looked angry, like he was about to throw something across the room and Mimi was trying her hardest not to scream-this woman was the most self-absorbed, boring person she had ever met. And that was saying something. And it didn't help that Mimi was 98% sure that she and the other blond had been in her Science class Freshman year-and they had been less than nice to her. Nathan had fallen asleep at his seat from boredom and Rebecca was lightly beating her head against the wall next to her chair repeatedly.

"So, Kayla, what have you been up to?" Julia asked once Brianna had finished her boyfriend monologue. Rebecca didn't even try to hide her groan that time.

"Rebecca, do you have a problem with your mother talking to your cousin?" Kenneth asked her.

"No. I do, however, have a problem with the two annoying talkative girls never shutting up about their pathetic little shallow lives," she snapped back.

"Rebecca, you are being incredibly rude and-"

"Hey, Mom, could you pass me the mashed potatoes?" Roger asked, interrupting what was sure to be a "grounded for life moment" between Rebecca and Julia.

"So, Mimi, how long did you live in New York?" Scott asked, trying to help in changing the subject-he seemed to be the only "family" member willing to stop any fights from erupting.

"About five years." She tried to keep her answer vague, not wanting anyone to know how young she really was when she ran there or what she was up to.

"Oh, so you must've been there when I visited Roger a couple of years back?"

"Um… Maybe…"

"Did you live in that apartment downstairs back then?"

"No. I lived with my friend Angel for a while."

"Oh… After the other night, I realized you looked really familiar, but I can't for the life of me think where I've seen you before…I thought that might have been where I had seen you at."

"Nope. Not unless you visited in the past year and a half."

"Oh…" Scott was quiet after that and the table lapsed into a slightly awkward silence.

"So, Paloma," Kenneth said and Roger internally winced at the thought of where this would lead, "What do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I'm retired now."

Another awkward silence.

"So, how's everybody else?" Kayla asked, but the way she said it made it sound more malicious than polite.

"They're good. Benny's married now. Mark and Maureen broke up." He had to work very hard not to slap the smug looks of "concern" that fell across Kayla and Brianna's faces.

"That's so sad to hear," Brianna said and even Paloma got a slight look of disgust on her face at the insincerity the girl showed. "How are they now?"

"Mark has an awesome new girlfriend that is way better suited for him and Maureen as an awesome girlfriend that is way better suited for her. So, in the end, everybody is much better off."

There was a slight silence as Roger waited…  
"Wait…What?!" Kayla exclaimed. And cue freak out. Roger hoped this wouldn't end in him giving his cousin a black eye. "Did you just say 'girlfriend'? As in Maureen Johnson, the total flirt of Scarsdale High his a lesbian? Oh, my God that is too good!' She and Brianna started laughing and judging by the look on her face, Mimi was working just as hard not to hit them as Roger was.

"You know, there's a difference between lesbian and bisexual, Kayla," Rebecca interjected, keeping surprisingly calm.  
"Whatever, fact still remains she's screwing a girl. Wow! I never would have seen that coming. I guess she just ran out of guys…" Brianna said and they began laughing again.

"Or maybe she couldn't find any, because they were all at your house, Bri," Mimi snapped. Everybody got silent and stared at her.

"Mimi… That was amazing," Rebecca finally said, breaking the silence; Kayla and Brianna glared at her.

"Rebecca!" Julia scolded, "It was not. It was rude."

"Oh, yeah. And what Brianna said was perfectly polite." Roger rolled his eyes.

"Don't you take that tone with your mother…" Kenneth started before Roger cut him off.

"Take what tone? The tone that says 'You're being a condescending, ignorant bitch'? Because that's kind of what she is right now!"

"You know, Roger," Kayla spoke up, "Just because your little girlfriend has a bad mouth, doesn't mean you should follow her example…"

"Oh, shut-up, Kayla!" Rebecca shouted and she s "Why does everyone in this family suck so bad?! The only tolerable people are Roger and Nana!"

"Young lady, you sit down right now-"

"No! Fuck you people! I'm going to bed! Goodnight!" And she stormed off before anyone could say anything.

They all just sat there in stunned silence for several seconds. Roger could hear Marie walk up the stairs after Rebecca.

"Well, now that my daughter is done freaking out," Kenneth said, not seeming at all phased by his daughter's sudden outburst at the table, "Perhaps we could-"

"The Cat Scratch Club!" Scott suddenly exclaimed, "That's where I saw you!"

Everyone turned to stare at him. He seemed to have been so lost in thought that he hadn't even noticed a fight had broken out. One look at the panicked looks on Roger and Mimi's faces told him eh should shut-up, though. "I mean… No, that can't have been it… I must not have seen you anywhere. Forget I mentioned anything…"

"_The Cat Scratch Club?_" Kayla screeched, "What is that, a strip club? Oh, my God, Bri, I told you she was a whore!"

"Not a whore. And not a stripper. An S&M dancer. There is a difference," Mimi corrected through gritted teeth. This just made them laugh harder.

Julia just dropped her fork onto her plate and muttered "Of course." under her breath while her husband's face somehow got more unpleasant than it already was.

"Lucia…" Paloma said, placing a cautious hand on her daughter's arm.

"Mami, it doesn't even matter. I quit that place, like, three months ago."

"Yeah, because she got paid more banging the guys on the side than she did dancing," Bri sneered.

"Brianna, shut-up!" Roger yelled at her, but he couldn't yell at her further. Paloma had beaten him to the punch.

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter like that! What is wrong with you, you little brat? Did your mother teach you to talk about people like that? I know she _must_ have raised you better than and to have at least _some_ manners!"

"Don't you talk to me about my mother! You clearly didn't do a good enough job with that little bitch over there! She makes her money dancing like a little whore and you think _I'm_ the one who was raised wrong?"

"I make my money witnessing!" Mimi snapped.

"Sure," Brianna said flippantly and Mimi lunged half-way across the table at her before Roger grabbed her to pull her back.

"Mimi, calm down," he said seriously. He pulled her closer and whispered quietly, so no one else could hear, "Think about the baby." She settled down a little and sat back down in her seat, forcibly returning to her food. Roger followed her lead and eventually everyone was sitting back down, eating. Although, the atmosphere had drastically increased in hostility.

"So, why did you quit?" Kayla asked all of a sudden, "Didn't want Nathan to have a whore for a step-mom?"

Mimi ignored the bait.

"No, I got a stalker that tried to kill Roger and almost killed me. Seemed like a bad idea to stay in that profession."

That shut her up. It also, however, seemed to send Paloma into a mini=panic attack once she realized Mimi was being serious.

"Oh, Mimi chica," she started speaking rapid Spanish that no one else could understand while Mimi tried to get her to calm down, "Hija, why do you live in that city? It is nothing but trouble for you…"

"Mami, I'm fine…"

"First you had to live on the streets and then those boyfriends and then the HIV and now this? Chica, that is just too much for one person to handle…"

"I'm fine, Mami, ok. Besides, it's all stuff that's happened in the past and I would much rather just focus on the present." **(A/N: And here is where I deviate from the norm and leave out someone saying "No day but today". Should I even be allowed to call myself a writer of Rent fanfiction? :p)**

There was another short silence.

"Good, Lord, don't tell me _she's_ got it too, Roger," Kenneth suddenly said.

"What?" Roger asked, getting confused.

"So, what, Roger, did you give it to her or did she give it to you?" Julia asked and that was when Roger realized what they were talking about.

"Mom, it's not like…"

"I'll bet she gave it to him and didn't even bother telling him," Brianna said, "No wonder they're getting married. Mimi threw the butter knife she had been holding down onto her plate and stood up. She looked like she was about to say something, but then just turned around to storm out of the room. Roger was too shocked to even say anything. She got half-way to the door when she turned around.

"I don't get what the hell I have to do for you people. No matter what I do, you all just seemed determined to hate me. I've never done anything to any of you! I've never been rude; I've never said anything mean! But you still insist on hating me like I'm the most evil person who has ever lived. Why? Do you just think I'm not good enough for your son? Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but that doesn't change the fact that I love him and you guys are acting like the family from Hell isn't going to change that!" She turned to go, but just as she got to the door she turned back around. "Oh, and since I'm sure you are all just _so_ eager to know, I got HIV because I was raped. But, I bet I'm just some stupid little girl who deserved that, right?" Then she turned and was gone. Two seconds passed before Paloma stood up and ran after her.

Roger sat in his chair, staring after her. He wasn't sure whether the need to run after her and comfort her or the need to kill his entire family was stronger. Everyone else, except Scott, had returned to eating. "I'm sorry." Scott mouthed and Roger just waved it off. Finally, he stood up to leave.

"Roger, you're not going to finish your dinner, either?" Julia asked. He stopped half way toward picking up Nathan and turned to her.

"Seriously? You guys basically just tear apart my fiancée in everyway you could possibly think of and I'm supposed to stay here with you guys and enjoy a meal? I'm not even hungry anymore."

She sighed exasperatedly.

"Roger, listen…"

"No, you listen! That woman happens to be one of the two most important people in my life. And I don't care how much you hate her, the least you could do is try to act like civil human beings when you're around her. But I guess that's just too much to ask of you, right? You couldn't act civil around the friends I chose, any of the people I ever chose to hang around in general, hardly any of my girlfriends-why should the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with be any different? Do you even feel any normal human emotions at all?"

"Roger," Kenneth tried to intervene, "We just don't think she's right for you. We saw what happened with that other one and…"

"And Mimi is totally different! She tries! She tried so damn hard to make you guys like her, even though I told her I didn't care what you thought at all! And you treat her like some second-class citizen that doesn't deserve your respect. Well, I don't care how much you hate her or think she's beneath you or beneath me, I love her and I'm going to marry her and nothing you guys say or do is going to change that!"

He picked up the somehow-still-asleep Nathan and turned to leave the room. He got to the door before turning around.

"And just so you know, I'm packing our stuff up tonight and we're leaving tomorrow. This night was a perfect example of why I left here in the first place."

"Hey, Roger…" Scott called after him and he stopped and turned back, "I liked her, man."

"Thanks. Too bad you're the only one who gave her a real shot."

* * *

_Did you guys like it? I know it was horribly depressing, but still... I'll try to have the next chapter up extra quick to make up for the long wait, but it definitely won't be up within the next two days-as they are Christmas Eve and Christmas. :p Merry Christmas/Happy holidays, everyone!_


	11. Doesn't Matter

_Hello, everyone. Sorry for the delay on this. I sent it to my beta-reader, like, three days ago and she still hasn't sent it back to me. I felt bad for already being late, though, so I'm just going to post this now and I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes or anything._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Mimi ran up the stairs, trying not to hear anything anybody might say in the room she left behind. She didn't need to hear them talk about what a drama queen and over reactor she was, too. She didn't even notice Rebecca sitting at the top of the stairs, listening in on the conversation in the dining room below, until she stood up. The two girls just stood there, staring at each other for a while.

"I don't think you're some stupid little girl who deserved it," Rebecca finally said quietly. Mimi took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

"Thanks," she finally responded as quietly before turning to go into her room.

"And, Mimi…" Mimi stopped at the door and turned to look at her. "I think you're a great person and I'm really, really glad that my brother's marrying you. Don't listen to what my parents and my cousin say. They're idiots. They think everyone's beneath them and no one is worth their time. Don't let them get to you."

Mimi nodded in thanks before finally entering the room and collapsing onto her and Roger's bed. She curled up into a ball and finally started crying, sobbing into her pillow. She tried as hard as she could to listen to what Rebecca had said, but it was hard. She wasn't very comfortable laying down like that, though, so she sat up and ripped her earrings out. She then threw them across the floor, not caring where they landed. She took her shoes off and threw those, as well, and undid the top buttons of her blouse to loosen the shirt a bit.

There was a knock on the door.

"Chica, may I come in?" It was her mother. She took a deep breath and tried to wipe the tears off her face. As if her mother hadn't seen her falling apart when she ran out of that room.

"Sure," she finally responded and the door opened slowly. "Close the door, please," she requested after her mother was inside the room.

She gently shut it before walking over to the bed and sitting beside Mimi. She pulled her into a hug, and Mimi leaned against her, crying again. Her mother just held her and stroked her hair, whispering comforting words in Spanish to calm her down. After a while the tears slowed and she took deep breaths, hiccuping slightly.

**(A/N: This next part is them speaking in complete Spanish, but I don't know enough Spanish to pull this off without spending a lot of time consulting my Spanish dictionary. I could o that and I probably know enough to put the sentence together fairly well and with the correct structure, but that would take too much time and I would have to translate it all at the bottom of the chapter anyway for those of you who don't speak Spanish, so it will be written in English.) **

"Hija, don't you listen to a word those terrible people say, all right? They just don't know and you they don't seem to care about anyone but their selfish selves."

"It's kind of hard to ignore them when they're right.."

"Querida, don't say that! They are not and you know it."

"Mami, from the moment I ran away from home I could find no way to make money other than selling my body, whether for show or use. Either way, it still makes me no better than some whore."

"I thought you said you quit that club now."

"I did, but.."

"Then no 'buts'. Querida, you are trying, ok? And you're working very hard and you've worked so hard already. You are not a whore. You are a wonderful girl who had a hard time at life and is just trying to make everything work out. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

"I just wish that I could be better for him. Not some stupid little ex-whore with no real career, no past worth mentioning, and pretty much no future. God, and then there's Nathan. I love him so much and I want to be a good mom for him, but I just feel like I can't. Same goes for the baby. I mean, I might not even be around long enough to actually _be_ a good mom for them."  
"Mimi Chica, calm down, all right? I'm sure you are being a wonderful mom to Nathan; the boy adores you. And you're going to make a wonderful mother for the baby, too. And Roger loves you, querida. It doesn't matter whether _you_ think you're good enough for him, but if _he_ thinks you are. And he obviously does."

"I guess you're right," she sniffed, still not entirely convinced. She reached for a tissue off the bedside table. Her mother wrapped her arm around her shoulder and rubbed it soothingly. Mimi leaned her head against her shoulder and closed her eyes, for once just letting her mother soothe her.

* * *

When Roger got to the top of the stairs he saw his sister leaning against the wall across from his bedroom. She looked at him with a mixture of pity and apology, but didn't say anything. He walked past her and carried Nathan into his room, laying him down on the bed while he got some pajamas out of his suitcase. When he stood back up and turned around, he noticed Rebecca had followed him.

"Mom and Dad suck," she said.

"Thank you for being obvious. I'm sorry for abandoning you here with them for five years."

"It's not your fault." She stared down at the ground for a while. Roger changed Nathan out of his clothes and tucked him into bed. He was still asleep. That child never ceased to amaze him. He stood up to leave, but Rebecca stopped him.

"Mimi's talking with her mom, so you might want to give them a bit." he nodded and the two walked down the hall to Rebecca's room. Once they were in she shut the door and walked over to her bed, sitting down and staring at the carpet. Roger stayed standing by the door. They were quiet for a while. Not knowing what to say.

"So, you're leaving tomorrow?" Rebecca finally said. He nodded and she returned to staring at the floor. She seemed to be thinking hard about something. She made to say something a few times, but kept stopping herself.

"Becca, what is it?"

"What?"

"You know 'what'. What do you want to say?"

He glanced up at her and they stared at each other a moment before she finally spoke.

"Take me with you." He stared at her for another long moment. Was she serious? "Please."

"Becca, there is no way…"

"Mom and Dad won't care. They already think I'm as big a failure as you, they'll probably be glad to be rid of me."

"Becca, there is just no room for you…"

"I don't have to live with you!"

"Oh, so where are you going to live? You expect me to let my baby sister get her own apartment? You're sixteen!…"

"I'll go live with Danny…"

"You are _not_ living with Danny!'

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"You're not Mom and Dad, you have no say in where I live. And if I'm not living with you, where the hell else am I going to go?"

"Here?" He gestured to the house around him.

"I'm not staying here, that's for sure. I am leaving the second you guys leave. Whether you guys give me a ride to the city with you or I get my own taxi or hitchhike is up to you."

"And what happens when you get to Danny's house and they don't let you stay there?"

"They'll let me stay. Danny's been talking to his parents about it for months. I just talked to him and they said it would be ok for me to move in with them. I just need a ride out of here, Roger, please."

Roger was silent, staring at the look of desperation on his sister's face.

"Please, Roger. I have nothing here. I have no one. Everyone I care about is in New York."

"What about Marie?"

"Marie hates it here. You know that. She's said to me all the time the only thing that holds her here is me. The second I go off to college, she's leaving too, so this is helping her get out sooner also. Please."

Roger took a deep breath, thinking it over.

"You swear that Danny's parents said you could stay with them?"

"I swear."

"So you're going to have a place to stay?'

"Yes."

"You know I'll check that."

"I'd be worried if you didn't."

He took another deep breath.

"Fine. We'll take you back."

She let out a very uncharacteristic squeal and threw herself at Roger, hugging him.

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem, sis."

She broke away from him and ran over to her phone. "I have to call Danny!"

"Becca, it's pretty late."

"Oh, we always call each other late. He makes sure to stay by the phone so it won't ring more than once and wake anybody else up."

"Ok. Tell him I said 'Hi'."

"Should I also tell him you plan on killing him?"

Roger laughed.

"No, but tell him if he even thinks of entering your room while you're living there, I will."

Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Whatever…" she muttered and Roger laughed again as he left her room, closing the door softly behind him.

He walked down to his room and knocked softly on the door.

"Come in," he heard Mimi call quietly and he opened the door, entering slowly.

"I'll leave you two to talk," Paloma said, getting up.

"You don't have to leave just because of me," Roger said.

"No, it's all right. I should be getting home, anyway." She hugged her daughter. "I'll see you later, querida. You call me tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok, Mami."

She turned and hugged Roger.

"Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Roger."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry my parents are such jerks."

"It's all right. It's not your fault."

She picked up her purse from the floor and left the room, leaving Roger and Mimi there alone, both staring at the floor and not speaking.

"I, honestly, cannot think of enough words to tell you how sorry I am about my parents," Roger finally said.

"It's ok," Mimi shrugged.

"No, it's not." Roger sat down on the bed beside her. "Mimi, they're idiots and they were horrible to you for absolutely no reason and you didn't deserve it at all."

"You guys keep saying that…" she said so quietly Roger wasn't sure he was supposed to hear it.

"What? We all keep saying what?"

"You, Mami, Becca… You guys all keep talking to me like I did nothing to warrant anything they said."

"You didn't…"

"Yes, I did. It doesn't matter that I don't do any of that stuff anymore. What matters is I did. So, in some way, they're all right about me."

"No, they're not."

"Yes, they are. I don't even know why you bother sticking around with me. I'm not good enough for you; good enough to be your wife. And I'm not good enough to be Nathan's mom. I'm not even good enough to be mom for my own baby.."

"Stop, Mimi. Look at me. You are the most amazing girl that I have ever met. I love you so much and it doesn't matter what you've done in the past. Like you said, it's all stuff that happened in the past and shouldn't we focus on just the present now? And in the present, you are a wonderful girl who is a great person and you are a great mom to Nathan and you are going to be a great mom for the baby and do you honestly think I would be marrying you if I didn't think you would make a good wife for me?" Mimi smiled lightly through her tears. He was basically just repeating back to her everything her mother had said, but coming from Roger they seemed to mean a little more. She was hearing first-hand how he felt and he had actually known her over the past few years. "Don't listen to my parents, ok? I never did and neither did Becca and we're the only half-way decent people to come out of our generation."

Mimi smiled again and took a deep breath to calm herself, leaning against Roger's shoulder. He held her, rubbing his hand up and down her shoulder and they just sat there for a while.

"Are you ok with leaving tomorrow?" Roger asked and Mimi nodded. "Good, because I kind of yelled at them that we were out of here tomorrow." Mimi laughed.

"Well, what if I had said 'no'?"

"Then I would have found us a hotel to stay at or something."  
Mimi laughed again.

"Can we go visit my mom one last time before leaving? I want to say good-bye."

"Of course." He kissed the top of her head. "Whatever you want, Mimi. Now, let's get to bed, I'm wiped."

"Me too."

Mimi crawled into bed, snuggling up to Roger, not even bothering to put any sleep clothes on, just taking her skirt and blouse off. She closed her eyes and looked forward to leaving this place tomorrow. She had had enough of this place and finally understood why he had always called it the "Hell home".

* * *

_Aaaaaand that's the end of that chapter. I'm not sure how long the next one will take, since it's one of those big, huge, important ones and I get all anal about those ones and want them to be perfect. :p_


	12. Battling the Monster

_Hello, everyone. I know, I know: forever, again. I'm really sorry, but life has been very hectic lately. I've got play practices, Key Club, Sea Camp, school in general. It's been taking up a lot of my time. Also, like I said, I spent a LONG time working on this chapter, because I want it to be perfect. I still think that there's probably some more I could do to make it better, but I don't know what that something is and I haven't updated in over a month, so I'll just update it now. Finally, I think another reason this is taking so long is because I've sort of lot interest in this story. No, that does not mean I'm stopping the story. No, that does not mean I'm stopping Rent fanfiction. I kind of didn't even really want to write this story when I started it, but, like I said, this story arc started with Roger and Mimi getting engaged and the rest of the stories deal with them dealing with their pasts before marrying each other. And this story is (obviously) majorly important to that. Don't get me wrong, there were parts that I really wanted to write (This chapter, for example, talking with Nana, anything involving Rebecca) but, as a whole, I didn't really want to write it. Not to mention I'm really looking forward to writing the next one, so I keep planning that one out instead of this one and it sort of hinders my writing. :p Ok, I'm done now, you may read._

_I don't know what happened to Steph. She still hasn't sent me back chapter eleven, so I don't know whether she's still going to beta for me or not. So I just used good old-fashioned spell-check and my eyes for this one. I'm sorry if there are any mistakes.  
_

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Roger had already woken up and was packing when Mimi woke up the next day. She just remained in bed, watching him as he grabbed scattered clothes from around the room and tossed them into their suitcase.

"You do realize that there is no way in Hell that that is _all_ going to fit back in there if you pack that way, right?" she finally asked and he gave a slight jump, turning to her.

"Oh, Mimi, you're awake. Well, I don't care. As long as we can get out of here, I'm fine."

Mimi laughed at him and rolled out of bed, heading toward the suitcase.

"And, how am I supposed to know what is and isn't clean?"

"Stuff that's folded is clean. Stuff that's messily thrown in on top is dirty."

She snickered.

"Oh, duh," she muttered sarcastically.

"Hurry up and get dressed. You're mom called earlier and I told her we'd be over there around 11:00. I didn't think you were going to sleep this long and figured you would want to be over there early."

Mimi glanced at the clock. 9:58. Shit.

"Well, then, _I'm_ getting in the shower. And don't follow me, it'll take longer."

He shot her a devilish smile as she disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

The atmosphere in the kitchen when Roger and Mimi walked in was dismal. It wasn't tense, like the house had been the day before, just….Sad… Marie stood at the stove, frying up pancakes, but she didn't seem to be her usual cheery self. She didn't hum or dance around, she just stood there. Rebecca sat at the table, moving her fork around slowly, just pushing the bits of food on her plate around. Roger knew something was bugging her, because she didn't even seem to care that she was getting syrup all over her bacon. Nathan, unaware of the reasons for this sadness, but still aware of it, just sat still in his seat, upset because the other two were upset.

"What's wrong?" Roger asked as Mimi took a plate of food with a quiet "Thank you." at Marie. Roger wondered if maybe telling Rebecca she could go with them was a bad idea. Maybe Marie didn't want her to leave. Maybe she hadn't really been planning on quitting and had only told Rebecca that to ease her guilt once she went off to college. Rebecca looked up from her food with slight shock mixed with the sadness, seeming to finally have noticed two extra people in the room.

"What could be the one thing that could make this week even worse than it's already been?" she asked morosely.

Roger stared at her in confusion for several seconds before comprehension finally dawned on his face.

"Oh, Becca," he said and he walked over to her, enveloping her in a hug. She leaned her face into his shirt, sobbing and he rubbed her back soothingly, "When did it happen?"

"At, like, 2:00 this morning," she choked out.

Mimi stared at the two, confused for a moment, before she finally caught on. Then she couldn't stop the tears from flowing and she joined the two, wrapping her arms around them. Nana had died. Mimi had only met her once. She and Roger had been planning on saying good-bye after they visited Mimi's mother. Seeing them all crying made Nathan cry and he wrapped his little arms around Mimi's legs, wanting to give them some form of comfort, even if he couldn't understand why the comfort was needed.

"When's the funeral?" Roger finally asked as their tears slowly subsided.

"I don't know. Mom and Dad said they wanted to have it as soon as possible, though."

"I guess we're staying a little longer, then…" He glanced at Mimi and she nodded to let him know it was ok-she didn't want to miss the funeral either.

* * *

"So, I guess we don't have to say good-bye to my mom if we're staying a little longer," Mimi said, trying to break the tensed silence in the car. Roger just shrugged. Tense silence again.

They reached the house soon after that and Mimi wondered if she should tell him he could just wait somewhere for them-he didn't look up to being around people today. She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned against him once they had gotten out of the car.

"You know, you can just stay here or something, Roger. You don't have to put on some brave face and try to be all cheerful around my mom."

For the first time since that morning, he smiled.

"Thanks, Mimi. I can handle it, though." He opened the back door and unbuckled Nathan, picking him up to carry him inside. He looked like he was in a better mood now.

They hadn't even made it all the way up the steps before Paloma came rushing out, chattering in Spanish as she enveloped Mimi in a big hug. The two led the way inside, speaking so fast Roger was certain he wouldn't have been able to understand them even if they had spoken English. Once they had gotten inside, she turned to Roger to give him a hug, which was complicated slightly by the three-year-old in his arms.

"It's so good to see you again. You too, Nathan," she said happily, "I got out some of Lucia's old toys for him to play with. I tried to find the most unisex toys I could find, but Lucia really loved her dolls."

"That's fine, Nathan loves dolls. If you have any books, though, those would be his favorite." He set Nathan onto the ground of the backroom and he immediately began exploring the toys-they were all older ones, so he had never seen them before. He picked up an older version of a My Little Pony and proceeded to make it "gallop" around the little area he was sitting in.

"Daddy, wook! I haff a pony!" he exclaimed, delighted, making everyone laugh.

"Well, if you love it so much, you can have it," Paloma said and his eyes got huge.

"Weawwy?"

"Of course. It's Mimi's, anyway, she should have it. In fact, you should take all of your old toys, what if you have a girl?"

"Get her some new toys instead of making her play with really old hand-me-downs."

"Nathan seems to love them." She gestured toward the toddler, who was now acting out some story with the My Little Pony and a Barbie doll.  
"Mami, Nathan's weird," she joked with a small laugh.

"Yeah, but this one's got my genes _and_ your genes, so it'll probably be even weirder," Roger interjected and she laughed harder.

* * *

For the rest of the day they just spent more time catching up about each other and discussing what was going on with each of them. Nathan seemed to never get bored with Mimi's toys and only interrupted them to announce that he was hungry, so they ended up eating lunch there.

"I still don't like the sounds of you living there, Hija," Paloma said as she poured some more lemonade into Nathan's sippy cup, "Who knows what other kinds of horrible things could happen to you there. And you have a small child and another one on the way."

"Mami, I told you, we're not in a very good place right now to buy a house outside the city," Mimi said, suppressing a sigh. They had been having this conversation since long before lunch. It had all started when Paloma insisted on knowing what exactly it was that had happened earlier that year with the stalker. It seemed to be all the back-up she needed for Mimi to move out of the city.

"I could help you out, querida."

"Mami, no offense, but I really do not want any help where you are concerned, because any help we get from you comes from Jose and I'd rather not be in his debt."

Her mother got a calculating look on her face as she sat down to her own food, as if she were thinking over something.

"I'm leaving him," she finally said quietly and Mimi and Roger both stopped to stare at her.

"Mami…."

"Don't start with me, Lucia, I've made up my mind and that's that. It's not like I even love him or anything, I just thought we needed him and he has caused us far more grief than it's wroth, so I'm leaving."

"Where are you going to go?"

"I called Carmen and she agreed to let me stay with her until I get everything sorted out and I'll figure out where to move from there. I've been stowing away money for myself for a while. Originally, it had been my plan for you and me when you were younger, but it got so hard to have enough extra money to keep somewhere else that it took longer than I thought to get us on our own. And then you left, so I didn't really see the point anymore, but I did it anyway, out of habit."

"Mami, if that's the case, then we don't want to take any money from you, either."

"Yeah, it seems like you need it much more than we do right now," Roger agreed, "We're doing fine, don't worry about us."

She looked like she wanted to argue some more, but let it go.

"All right, if you're sure. But if you ever need any help…"

"We'll know you're there for us," Mimi finished for her, "Thanks, Mami."

"Daddy, I'm finished. May I go pway now pwease?" Nathan announced several moments later.

"Sure, Nathan, just be careful back there and don't break anything, ok?" He nodded and hopped down from his chair. Roger leaned over and Nathan reached up on his tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek before running away into the back room.

"He is so cute," Paloma said for the tenth time that day.

"He takes after his father," Mimi commented, "He's going to have one hell of a time in high school." Roger just smiled, deciding that speaking right now would not help his case there.

They had finished by then and Paloma stood up and began carrying the dishes to the sink. Mimi hopped up.

"Mami, let me take care of those for you. You go in the backroom and hang out with Roger and Nathan for a bit."

"Mimi-chica, you are pregnant, I am not letting you stand up doing the dishes. Also, I wouldn't be a very good hostess if I had you do my housework."

"No, but you're not a hostess, you're my mother and I want to help you out, now go relax."

Normally, Roger would've protested, but he could see how much this meant to Mimi-a small gesture to try and make up for what she had done to her mother-so he kept quiet and followed Paloma after giving Mimi a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So, have you two thought of any names for the baby yet?" Paloma asked once the two were seated back on the couches.

"Yeah, dozens. But each one one of us likes, the other hates. So we don't really have any possible names."

She laughed.

"Oh, I remember when Lucia's father and I were expecting Alejandro. We had one heck of a time trying to come up with a name we both agreed on." She chuckled to herself, lost in her memories. It took a few moments before she came back to reality. "How about the wedding? Have you set a date for that yet?"

"No. We haven't had much time, really, to plan out anything, we keep getting distracting curve balls thrown at us. First we found out Mimi was pregnant, then Nathan showed up, and then there was that whole court problem and my buddies and I had to prepare an actual bedroom for him. We were finally getting some peaceful time when my sister called about my grandmother." He trailed off and the two fell into a sad silence.

"I'm sorry to hear she passed away," Paloma finally said, resting a comforting hand on his knee. He looked up at her and couldn't help but feel comforted and smile as he looked at her concerned eyes-they were just like Mimi's.

There was a sound of the front door opening and shutting and a voice shouted toward the backroom in Spanish. Roger and Paloma froze. Roger didn't recognize the voice, so he didn't know for a fact who it was, but judging by the look on Paloma's face, he would bet that it was José. Paloma called back to him hurriedly and stood up.

"Stay here," she practically mouthed and rushed out toward the front area, to head him off before he could walk back to them, speaking to him in hurried Spanish. Roger had no idea where Mimi was now, as José would've seen her when he walked in had she been standing in the kitchen. He kneeled down on the ground by Nathan and pulled him into his lap to stop him from possibly running out of the room to find out where Mimi and Paloma were.

Things seemed ok for a moment. Paloma and Jose went on talking amiably, still in Spanish, so Roger had no idea what they were saying. Roger was just wondering how, exactly, Paloma planned to get them out of the house without José's notice when the atmosphere instantly changed from one-sided tense and hidden nervousness to silent tension and a little hostility. There was a long silence that was almost unendurable. Finally, José spoke in a voice that was so menacing Roger wondered how, exactly, Mimi had managed to stay in this house for ten years. Roger was certain, had he been a young child, he definitely would've run long before she had; or at least cried to his mother.

"Well, look what the cat dragged home…"

* * *

Mimi finished the dishes and set them all in the drying rack. She could hear her mother and Roger conversing pleasantly about baby names and such. Nothing important that she need to be there for, so she went to the bathroom. She was just heading out into the living room when the door opened. She froze and watched as José walked in the door, shouting toward the back of the house for her mother. Mimi knew this would be a great time for her to run back into the bathroom and lock the door, but her muscles didn't seem to agree with her mind. Plus, she couldn't help but think of Roger and Nathan in the backroom.

She stayed absolutely still, hoping that if she didn't move he wouldn't see her. She heard her mother respond and saw her come into the kitchen and walk over to the front door, where José was now hanging his jacket in the closet. It was odd how, even though Mimi war more terrified than she could remember being for a while, the first thought that entered her mind was why José was wearing a jacket in the middle of June. José and her mother casually chatted for several seconds before he turned toward the living room. His eyes locked with hers and suddenly she was the child she had always been as she lived in this house. She was nothing, a nobody. Nothing more than just something José can use until he was tired with her and sent her off to her room. Everything else disappeared and Mimi wanted nothing more than to turn around and just run and keep running. Climb out a window in one of the bedrooms and bolt down the street as quickly as possible. Except those damn muscles still wouldn't respond. Finally, he broke the painful silence and Mimi wished he had just said nothing at all.

"Well, look what the cat dragged home…"

He took a step toward her, but Paloma ran over to him and grabbed his arm, pleading with him in Spanish to just leave her alone. He easily shook her off.

"Leave her alone?! Seriously, Paloma? Do you remember what she did?! That little whore ran out on us! And, on top of all that, she was doing drugs while in our home! I knew it would be a challenge to try and raise someone else's kid, but I dealt with it anyway because I love you and I wanted to help the poor girl, but that girl is impossible to help…"

And then Mimi saw something she never thought she would ever see. For the first time, someone who wasn't her interrupted José. And not in a polite tone. _And_ it was her mother.

"Because you loved me?" she hissed in anger, "If you loved me, you would have loved my daughter no matter what. You would've treated her like a human being instead of some dog. You did not love me, and you don't love me now, so don't give me any of your bullshit." Through the numbness and total fear, Mimi felt a bit shocked. She wasn't sure she had ever heard her mother swear before. "And I don't love you. Which is why I'm leaving you."

There was a long, strained silence. Mimi glanced toward her mother and saw out of the corner of her eye that Roger was standing in the area between the kitchen and the backroom. Probably trying to keep an eye on this scene and Nathan at the same time.

"You're…What?" José finally spit out, as if he couldn't quite understand what Paloma had told him.

"You heard me. I'm leaving you. You have been nothing but trouble for me and the little bit of my family that I have left, so I'm leaving."

He thought that over, looking confused at first, then he got even angrier and rounded on Mimi.

"This is _your_ fault, you little whore! What the hell did you say to her, huh?! What did you say?!" Mimi took a step back but that didn't clear her away from him fast enough and he grabbed her wrist shaking her. Paloma ran at him and started screaming at him in Spanish, hitting his back. He turned and slapped her quickly across the face before turning back to Mimi. She started kicking at him and screaming every cuss word-Spanish and English-that she knew. She was fully prepared to feel him hit her at any moment when he was suddenly thrown off of her.

Roger had bolted across the room and yanked José off of her, punching him in the face. José looked stunned for a moment, wondering where this third person had come from. He didn't have time to figure it out, however, before Roger grabbed him and through him against the wall. José struggled out of his grip and attempted to throw him away, but Roger just came back and punched him in the face again, managing to throw him to the ground this time. He grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him slightly off the ground.

"If you ever touch her again, I swear to God I'll make sure you never live to see another day of your pathetic life," he threatened before throwing him back to the ground. He stood up and walked over to Mimi, who now had Nathan in her arms.

"Are you ok?" he asked, looking her over.

"I'm fine," she choked out and Roger pulled her close to him, kissing her on the forehead.

José got up and made to move toward them, but Roger turned around, pushing Mimi and Nathan slightly behind him and glaring. José just stood there, panting and glaring back at Roger with hatred that paled in comparison to Roger's.

"You…Get out of my house now!" he spat, still panting, holding a sleeve to his bleeding forehead. before turning to look at Mimi, "And if I ever see you around here again…"

"You'll do nothing," Roger interrupted, "She has the right to see her mother if she wants and if you try to stop her a bleeding forehead will be the least of your problems."

He put his arm around Mimi and walked to the door with her, keeping a close eye on José the entire time. Mimi said a quiet good-bye to her mother and gave her a quick hug and they were out the door. As soon as they descended the porch steps, they could hear sounds of Paloma and José arguing with each other. Mimi kept throwing nervous glances back toward the house.

"Take Nathan to the car," Roger said once they had reached the sidewalk.

"What? Why?"

"Just go, I'm going to go help your mother, I'm not leaving her alone with that monster in there."

Mimi wanted to argue. To tell him it was stupid to go back alone and he should let her go with him, but there was Nathan to think of _and _the baby. Mimi wasn't in any condition to fight someone. If it came to that, which she was hoping it wouldn't.

Roger hadn't even made it half-way up the walk when Paloma's screaming got louder and the front door burst open.

"I'm calling the police!" he heard her shout before seeing her disappear back into the house. He only had a moment to wonder why she was so panicked before the first bullet shot past him. He heard Mimi scream and for a second was afraid that it might have hit her, but he knew the aim was way off. José wasn't very steady after being thrown around the living room and, so, he couldn't hold the gun very straight. Roger wasn't even sure if he could see straight. He fired again and Roger dodged out of the way. Trying to make his aim of fire move away from Mimi and Nathan. He was glad Mimi was smart enough to grab Nathan and hide behind the car instead of running to his aid. Roger dove behind a tree that was in the front yard and couldn't help but wonder what the hell he did to piss God off so much that he would get attacked by some crazy guy with a gun twice within a few months of each other. He knew he lived in New York, but this was ridiculous.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for José to run out of bullets and he turned to walk back into the house, presumably to get more. Roger didn't give him the chance, he ran at him, slamming into his back and sending him sprawling onto the ground, the gun flying ten feet off to the side. José tried to get back up, but Roger just punched him again, this time throwing as much power as he could into it. It seemed to work, because the man didn't get up after that. Moments later, he heard the sirens a few blocks away and wondered if it was just police or if there was an ambulance as well. He was pretty sure he hadn't caused any sever, lasting damage, but it was better to be on the safe side. The last thing Roger needed was another trial with him defending himself.

Once the police arrived (with an ambulance) Mimi ran over, setting Nathan on the ground and throwing herself into Roger's arms. Although she tried to hide it, he could tell that she was crying. He tried to calm her down, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words to her, but she just seemed to cry harder. Paloma had come out of the house and was now holding Nathan who kept inquiring if "Daddy's awwight". Roger was fine. Just a few scrapes and bruises, but he didn't want to get near Nathan until they were actually bandaged up.

Finally, the paramedics had loaded José into the ambulance and were able to turn their attention to Roger's injuries. While he was getting cleaned up he heard the police officers interviewing Mimi and her mother about what had happened, even trying to get something out of Nathan, who still had no idea what on Earth was going on, except that it was bad and scary.

They interviewed Roger and after what seemed like hours, they were finally able to go home. It took a little longer for Mimi and her mother to say good-bye this time, both still a little traumatized over what had happened and just thankful that they were both all right. Roger slipped his arm around Mimi's waist and pulled her close to him as they walked back to the car, a sleeping Nathan leaning against Roger's shoulder. Roger didn't want to let go of her, even after they had reached the car, afraid she would fall over the second he let go.

"there's no way he can get out of that, right?" she finally asked on their way home.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he had a gun. He was shooting at you. He tried to kill you. There's no way they can let him go after that, right?"

Roger thought that over. The odds were very small, but still there. But saying that wouldn't help at all.

"Of course they can't."

Mimi sat there, staying out the windshield with a confusing look on her face. Finally, she broke out in a smile.

"He's gone," she said quietly, almost to herself. Then she turned to Roger, "Roger, he's gone. He's going to go to jail and I won't ever have to deal with again."

Her smile was so bright and genuinely happy, Roger couldn't help but smile with her. It was the first real smile either of them had had in a while. He moved his hand off the steering wheel and grasped Mimi's hand.

"Yeah, it's over," he said quietly, "He can't ever hurt you again."

Which made her smile even brighter.

* * *

_I really hate that ending, but I couldn't think of anything else. I have such a problem with ending chapters. :p I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. I think I have two left and then this story is done. Unless I think of more to write. Then I can start the next story. Which will be so dark and depressing it'll make "Did I Ever Tell You?" look like "The Happiest Little Elf". :p_


	13. Goodbye

_Wow, this is later than I intended. I'm sorry, but I had to take my finals early and I had play stuff and everything else and I am just way busy right now. I barely had time to breathe. :p I ended up kind of rushing this, so I'm sorry if it doesn't turn out very well. I, especially, had a hard time with Roger's speech, it still didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to... Oh, well. At least I got it done before I leave (Which is tomorrow, btw.)_

_I'm skipping the beta-reader this time, so I can get this up now, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes._

_I want to thank Kim, Jonathan, and Shawnna for putting up with em freaking otu over thsi chapter and attempting to help me with it. Also, thanx to my imdb Twilighters for help._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"Trust me, buddy, squirming only makes it even more uncomfortable," Roger said as he watched Nathan wiggle around in the borrowed clothes for Nana's funeral.

"Do I hafta wewe dis?" he asked pitifully.

"Yes," Mimi said, fixing his tie, which had gotten askew as the child tried to shed his clothing without actually touching them.

"Why?"

"Because we're going to a funeral and you have to wear black to show respect."

He was quiet after that. Roger and Mimi had already explained to him what a funeral was and why they were going and the child was incredibly saddened over Nana's passing, despite only having met her once.

"I hate dresses," Rebecca said entering their room.

"So you've said," Mimi responded, "I think you look lovely."

"Lovely? At the very least I should have been able to wear some colored dress, but it's black! The most boring color on the face of the planet! It's not even black with some colored designs on it, it's just black!"

"You can't wear colors to a funeral."

"Nana would've wanted us to. But Mom and Dad wouldn't let me wear the bright yellow dress with the orange flowers on it that she bought me a while ago."

"Yeah, she probably would've preferred everyone to wear colors," Roger agreed, picking Nathan up to minimize his ability to squirm, "She would be pretty depressed at how her funeral is turning out."

"Angel was the same way," Mimi commented, "She always told me how, when she died, she wanted all her friends to just throw a huge party and not sit around crying. 'Life goes by too quickly to spend some of it crying over someone who tried to spend her whole life smiling.' That's what she said to me."

"Angel sounds so cool," Rebecca mused as she stretched out on their bed, "I wish I could've met her." She got a confused look on her face. "…Him…That person…"

Mimi couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, Angel was amazing." Then she grew somber and sighed. "And instead of throwing a party like I promised, I started a fight."

"You didn't start it," Roger disagreed.

"Yes, I did. If I hadn't started talking to you, we all wouldn't have started screaming at each other."

"Yeah, but if I hadn't been such a hostile asshole, then the fighting wouldn't have started."

"Are you guys seriously fighting over a fight?"

They both looked at Rebecca and let out a short laugh.

"Not really… Fighting involves yelling," Roger argued.

"Whatever," she muttered.

"Kids!" They heard Marie call them form downstairs. "It's time to go."

"All right, let's go get this over with," Roger said and they headed out the door.

* * *

"…Alice was a good Christian, always attending church every Sunday…" Roger started tuning the priest out as he rambled on about the woman he was told Nana was. It was incredibly stupid. Nana had never gone to church, she hated it. She hated all organized religion and believed it caused more problems than it solved. She had her own religion with God and her Bible and didn't want to follow some other human's interpretation of it. Roger's parents had just told the priest to say these types of things to make her sound like the respectable type of person they thought should be in their funeral. He wondered what they would have the priest say at his funeral. Then he wondered whether they would even bother coming, let alone plan it…

"Roger!" Mimi hissed, elbowing him slightly and his head snapped up. She gestured for him to go up to the front of the room and he realized he must have been called upon to speak.

He was sure that, originally, his parents had probably wanted Rebecca to speak at the funeral-she was younger and, so, would look cuter and she had a better chance of breaking down crying and that was what would paint their family in the most sympathetic light, which was all that mattered to them. However, she had become increasingly more rebellious since Roger came to visit and, so, they were probably afraid of what she might say. They still didn't know that she was leaving, she was going to tell them after the funeral, wanting to tell them at the last possible moment.

Roger shuffled up to the front of the room and stood there, feeling nervous. Roger had never spoken at a funeral before. He hadn't had the guts to speak at Angel's funeral and had no experience in making any kinds of speeches.

"Um…Hi…" he finally said lamely, "I'm not really good at making speeches, so I'm sorry if this is really bad." You could tell the difference between the family members of Christian and Alice and the family members of Phillip's-the latter didn't smile and laugh. Roger glanced at Mimi and she gave him a small smile of encouragement and he continued. "As most of you probably already know, Alice was grandmother and she was probably the best grandmother that ever existed. She wasn't really stuck-up like some older people can sometimes be and she always encouraged my sister and me to be who we wanted to be and do what we wanted to do.

"She was also pretty lenient for an adult. Becca and I hardly ever got into any trouble when we were at her house. And she never yelled. Whenever we did something wrong she would just sit us down and talk to us about it or just laugh if it wasn't a big deal. Like the time Nana and I were almost finished with this thousand piece puzzle and Becca decided it would be a good idea to try out her new roller skates in Nana's house. Turns out it wasn't and she rolled into the table, sending the pieces flying everywhere." He couldn't help but laugh a bit and half the church laughed with him, he noticed Rebecca ducking her head, trying to hide her blush and not laugh.

"She was also great for advice. If I ever had any problem, I would just turn to her and she always knew what to do or what she could say to make me feel better. She always accepted me for who I was and never tried to control me or anything, she would just let me make my own decisions and make mistakes, because she knew that was the best way to learn. I'm really going to miss her…" He trailed off, trying to stop the tears that were now threatening to spill over. He looked upward, toward where the sky would be, had they not been inside. "I love you, Nana… Good-bye," he managed to choke out before the tears started to fall.

By now pretty much everyone else in the church was crying, including Mimi. He took his seat back next to her and she gave him a slight hug. The priest stood up and started to need the funeral, but Mimi stood up.

"Wait! Could I say something, please?"

There was a slight murmuring and she was afraid to look at Rogers's parents, certain they would be trying to kill her with their eyes. The priest gave her permission and she walked to the front of the room, now very nervous. This wasn't like Angel's funeral. She wasn't in a church filled with her friends. This was a room of people she hardly knew. And most of whom were glaring at her.

"I only met Alice once, but she was probably one of the best people I have ever met. She was kind and funny and, I know this is cliché and way over-used, but she just seemed so full of life, even in the hospital. She gave me a chance and didn't just judge me before she met me and I really respect her for that. And for doing a great job of being a grandmother to two of the most difficult people I have ever met." She smiled jokingly over at Roger bad Rebecca and some people laughed quietly. "She was a great person and I'm really sorry that I didn't get a chance to know her better. She's someone I would've really loved to get to know better."

She managed to hold her tears back a bit better than Roger had, managing to make it back to her seat before they fell.

* * *

Roger, Mimi, and Rebecca only stayed downstairs after the funeral for about an hour. Mimi didn't like the dirty looks she would get from some of the people related to Phillip and all three of them began to get uncomfortable at the animosity there appeared to be between them and the family of Christian. Some of the people who were actual relatives of Alice seemed to be involved in this silent feud, as well. Finally, Roger excused them, claiming to be putting Nathan to bed.

"But I wanted to watch the fight," Rebecca whined jokingly once they had reached the top of the stairs.

"God, I thought that dinner we had was bad," Mimi commented, "Did you see some of the murderous looks those people had?"

"Now you know why we don't have any family reunions," Roger chuckled, "My real grandpa's family and my step-grandfather's family hate each other. And half the people in Nana's family thought that marrying Phillip was a mistake from the start, so that caused a riff _there_… Our families have got nothing on what goes on there."

"It seems so stupid for them all to hate each other over something that happened with three people, all of whom are dead."

"It is, but what are you going to do?"

"Daddy, when can we go home?" Nathan spoke up as they entered his room.

"We're leaving tomorrow, buddy."

"Weawwy? Because you said that befowe and we stayed."

"Well, there isn't going to be any other reason for us to stay now, so we're leaving."

"Good. I miss home."

"Me too," Mimi muttered, too quietly for the boy to hear. Roger heard her, however, and shot her a sympathetic look. They quickly dressed Nathan into his pj's and Roger asked him what book he wanted read tonight.

"I want Becca to wead," he said. Rebecca, who had been leaving the room, stopped half-way out the door and turned.

"Really?"

"Yes. Wead the wabbit one, pwease."

"Ok," she said and turned to leave the room quickly, but not before saw the really huge smile she was trying to hide.

"So, I'm guessing we're not needed here, right?" Roger asked and Nathan shook his head. "All right, then. Good night, buddy."

"Good night, Daddy," he said, hugging him. Mimi hugged him and wished him good night as well before the two left. Roger stopped Rebecca just before she re-entered the room.

"Did you talk to Mom and Dad yet?"

"Uh…I was trying really hard to not tell them…"

"Becca, what the hell? Are you going to just leave without saying anything?"

"I'll tell them after I read to Nathan. He has to get to bed and, besides, don't want to talk to them while there are guests downstairs. We don't need another possible fight right now…"

"All right, but if you don't tell them, I will."

She nodded and headed into Nathan's room.

Roger sighed as he shut the door behind him.

"How do you think your parents are going to take this?" Mimi asked as she began taking her earrings out.

"Probably badly. I mean, they're not going to yell or anything, they never do that, but it's still going to be pretty bad…"

He sat on the bed and stared at the floor absent--mindedly. Mimi slipped her shoes off and sat next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Do you think they'll let her go?"

"Yeah. Saying that you want to leave is the ultimate failure to them and they would rather have you gone than stick around after that." Mimi looked at him confusedly. "At least, that was their attitude when I said I was leaving."

"I thought you went away to college…"

"Yeah, but by July after graduation, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't wait to leave, so I just left. I stayed with Mark until the semester started, his parents didn't mind. I will never understand how Mark managed 18 years with those people, though… I mean, they weren't mean or anything, but, dear God, were they annoying…" Mimi laughed.

"Yeah, I've heard the phone messages…"

"His mom really does not understand the concept of privacy," he laughed, "She would just walk right into his bedroom unannounced and if he happened to be changing or something she would just keep talking like it was no big deal. That was a bad moment for me to be sitting in the living room, since I had a clear view of his room when she opened the door."

That, of course, just made Mimi laugh harder.

"And parents wonder why we leave…"

"We have to make sure to not be that bad with our kids."

"Yeah, we'll knock first."

"Right. And _then_ we go in and talk no matter what."

They both laughed and Mimi got up to change out of her blouse and skirt.

"That was a really sweet speech, by the way, Roger."

"Thanks. You too. I can't believe my mom and dad let you stay there and talk."

"Well, how would it make them look if they just said 'no' to letting their son's fiancée talk at her future grandmother-in-law's funeral?"

"True…"

There was a knock on the door and it opened a crack.

"Can I come in?"

Mimi grabbed her clothes and ran t the bathroom.

"Go ahead, Becca, Mimi's in the bathroom."

"Nathan's asleep. And everybody left."

"Perfect time to go talk to Mom and Dad."

"Yeah…"

"And you aren't doing so yet, because…?"

"I'm kind of afraid to…" Roger nodded. Understandable. "Would you go with me?" His head shot up. "Just, like, stand outside the door or something. I just really don't want to go face them alone." He just sat there, staring. "Please?"

He sighed.

"Fine."

She immediately looked relived.

"Thanks."

"But I don't see what good it'll do…"

"It'll make me feel better. Now, let's go before they get to bed."

She practically sprinted down the stairs, but once she got to the door to the back room. She looked back at Roger and he gave a nod, saying "Go ahead." She knocked lightly and waited.

"Enter," her father called and she took a deep breath before walking in.

"Rebecca, what are you doing up at this hour?"

She glanced at the clock.

"It's 10:24."

"Yes, this is a very late time for a young girl to be out of bed."

"I'm sixteen…"

They just stared at her and she finally decided to just tell them and get it over with.

"I'm leaving."

More staring.

"To go where?" her mother finally asked, "You know, it's late, I don't even think you're allowed out right now."

"Mom, the curfew is midnight. And, I don't mean tonight. I mean I'm leaving the house. For good." More staring. "Roger and Mimi are taking me back to new York City with them and I'm going to lie with Danny and his family."

"Rebecca, don't be ridiculous, you're only sixteen, you can't leave yet," her father said, almost laughing.

"I can and I am."

More staring.

"Why on Earth would you leave this house? Especially for…that place…" She wasn't sure whether by "that place" she meant Danny's house or New York City in general. She decided she didn't want to know and continued talking.

"Because I hate it here. Everything Id o is wrong. Everything I say is wrong. Everything I think is wrong. You guys won't let me have my own opinions about anything. You don't let me do things I want to. I practically feel like I'm suffocating here."

There was a long silence after that and Roger was afraid they might have all spontaneously died. Then his father spoke and, of course, it had to be the worst thing possible to say.

"You know, Rebecca, we always knew there was something off about your brother. He just wasn't the proper child that he should've been. So we had you." He paused and Rebecca squirmed uncomfortably. "I never would've guessed you would be a bigger disappointment than he was."

He turned away from her after that and she knew they were done with her. At first she was too stunned to move then she turned and walked out of the room, blinking back the tears in her eyes. She didn't start running until she was out the door and her parents couldn't see her anymore. Roger tried to stop her to comfort her, but she dodged him and bolted up the stairs, tears streaming down her face.

* * *

Roger knocked on Rebecca's door, but got no answer.

"Becca?" he asked, opening the door anyway.

"Go away!" she sobbed at him and got up, trying to shut the door on him.

"Becca, I can't believe you're letting them do this to you. This is what they want, you know. They are the worst parents on the face of the planet and they are determined to make sure that they make us both as miserable as possible."

"It's working…"

"It doesn't have to."

"How do you do it? I mean, they're our parents. They're our family. How do you let it not get to you?"

"I ignore them. And focus on the fact that, just because they're my parents, doesn't mean I need them. And just because they're my parents does not mean that they're my family. Family cares about each other and helps each other out. _They_ are not my family. _You_ are my family. You, Mimi, and Nathan. And then there's Mark, Collins, Maureen, Joanne, and Jodie. But they're, like, extended family, like cousins and stuff."

She laughed.

"Oh, good, I can still do that."

She laughed again.

"Thanks. Man, I can't wait to get out of here."

"Oh, yeah. It's pretty bad when I start looking forward to go back to my wreck of a home."

"I can't wait to see what it looks like. I want to see if it's as messed up as you say it is. I bet it's worse." She smiled at him.

"Yeah, it probably is…" They both laughed. "Now, you go to sleep so we can get out of here early tomorrow."

"Ok. Good night."

"Good night."

* * *

The car was almost totally packed, Nathan was strapped into his carseat, and everyone was ready to go by 10:00 am the next morning.

"I don't think I've ever see you get up early like this before," Mimi joked with Roger as they carried the last bags out to the cab.

"Ha ha," he said sarcastically, "Do you know where Becca got to?"

"I think she was saying good-bye to Marie.

"Ok." He started trying to fit the last few bags into the car, but couldn't find enough space. "We probably should've told Becca not to pack her entire room…"

Mimi laughed and turned toward the house, thinking. Finally, she made up her mind and started walking toward the house.

"Where are you going?" Roger asked her.

"Gimme a minute, I'll be right back," she called and entered the house. She walked toward the backroom, where she knew she would find Julia and Kenneth, and knocked lightly.

"Enter," Kenneth called and she felt intimidated before actually stepping foot into the room. Once she finally entered, she saw that the two seemed to be completely unfazed by the fact that their daughter was leaving them, most likely for good. And, on top of that, Marie had given them her two week's notice that morning. You would think they would be a bit more frazzled. They just sat in their chairs, staring at nothing in particular and refusing to look at Mimi.

"You know, we're leaving now," she said, trying to break the ice. They just sat there silently, still not looking at her. "Did you even say good-bye to your kids?" More silence. "I get that you're disappointed in them. Fine. Whatever. But you're probably not going to see them again, do you not care at all?" She wondered if they had turned into statues. She sighed and turned to leave. She got about half way across the room before turning back around. "You know, I really would've liked to have been considered part of your family. I'm sorry you guys never really gave me a chance. But I guess I should've expected that, since you never really gave your own kids a chance either." They didn't even appear to react to what she said to them. "Good bye," she finally said and left.

She walked out to the cab, where everyone else was sitting, waiting for her, and got in, shutting the door behind her without a word. Roger and Rebecca looked at her questioningly, but didn't say anything. They all just sat in silence as the car drove away from the home the two had spent most of their lives in. No one bothered to give it a second glance.

* * *

_Ok, as might have been mentioned, I am leaving for Florida tomorrow for Sea Camp and I will be gone until late next Sunday night. Once I get back I have to really buckle down, because that is crunch time for my play (It's the last weekend of March) and I have DCON for Key Club the second to last weekend in March. Because of this, I highly doubt I will be getting the next story in this story arc up until April. I'm sorry for that delay, but the first chapter will end on a mini-cliffhanger, so I don't want to write and post one chapter and then get tied up for weeks on end while you guys wonder what happens. If anything, I might update You Look Familiar or finally write this one-shot I need to get done before the next story after this next story in this story arc. (I'm sorry if that made no sense. :p)_


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